Vagueness in context / Stewart Shapiro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shapiro, Stewart, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vagueness (Philosophy).

Semantics (Philosophy).

Language and languages--Philosophy.

Language and languages.

Physical Description:

x, 226 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Summary:

Stewart Shapiro's ambition in Vagueness in Context is to develop a comprehensive account of the meaning, function, and logic of vague terms in an idealized version of a natural language like English. It is a commonplace that the extensions of vague terms vary according to their context: a person can be tall with respect to male accountants and not tall (even short) with respect to professional basketball players. The key feature of Shapiro's account is that the extensions of vague terms also vary in the course of conversations and that, in some cases, a competent speaker can go either way without sinning against the meaning of the words or the non-linguistic facts. As Shapiro sees it, vagueness is a linguistic phenomenon, due to the kinds of languages that humans speak; but vagueness is also due to the world we find ourselves in, as we try to communicate features of it to each other.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [216]-219) and index.

ISBN:

0199280398

OCLC:

61520313

Publisher Number:

9780199280391