Context-Dependence and the Sorites
نویسنده
چکیده
In Section 1 we describe the Sorites paradox and lay out options for a solution. In Section 2 we consider approaches which deny that all premises are true, and note that these solutions all seem open to a certain serious objection. In Section 3 we note a problem for the principle of transitivity of the conditional and present a contextualist resolution of the problem, according to which the “counterexamples” to transitivity involve the informal fallacy of shifting the context. In Section 4 we consider the possibility of applying the contextualist resolution of the general transitivity puzzle to Sorites arguments in particular, discussing the views of Kamp, Pinkal and Soames. Our negative conclusion, developed in Section 5, is that the paradoxes can be formulated in a way that does not commit the informal fallacy: context is held fixed. In the final section, we suggest a different defense against the objection used in Section 2.
منابع مشابه
Vagueness and Context Dependence
Commentators on vagueness have identified a series of phenomena correlated to an expression ε’s being vague. Prominent among these are: ε must present possible borderline cases of its application (borderlineness); it must seem that, if ε is true of a case, it is also true of every qualitatively very similar case (sorites susceptibility); the sharp cutoff for ε’s application, if it exists at all...
متن کاملSemantic Vagueness and Context-dependence
A new solution is offered for the ancient ’sorites’ paradox of vagueness. The sorites paradox arises if it is assumed that if two objects are indistinguishable, then a vague predicate (e.g., large, or small) can never distinguish between them. The proposed solution to the paradox depends on a systematic ambiguity that is displayed by vague predicates as well as vague relations (e.g., the relati...
متن کاملContext, interest relativity and the sorites
According to what I will call a contextualist solution to the sorites paradox, vague terms are context-sensitive, and one can give a convincing dissolution of the sorites paradox in terms of this context-dependency. The reason, according to the contextualist, that precise boundaries for expressions like “heap” or “tall for a basketball player” are so difficult to detect is that when two entitie...
متن کاملSorites without Vagueness Ii: Comparative Sorites
We develop a mathematical theory for comparative sorites, considered in terms of a system mapping pairs of stimuli into a binary response characteristic whose values supervene on stimulus pairs and are interpretable as the complementary relations ‘are the same’ and ‘are not the same’ (overall or in some respect). Comparative sorites is about hypothetical sequences of stimuli in which every two ...
متن کامل