Shifting sands: An interest relative theory of vagueness

Philosophical Topics 28 (1):45--81 (2000)
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Abstract

I propose that the meanings of vague expressions render the truth conditions of utterances of sentences containing them sensitive to our interests. For example, 'expensive' is analyzed as meaning 'costs a lot', which in turn is analyzed as meaning 'costs significantly greater than the norm'. Whether a difference is a significant difference depends on what our interests are. Appeal to the proposal is shown to provide an attractive resolution of the sorites paradox that is compatible with classical logic and semantics.

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Delia Fara
Last affiliation: Princeton University

Citations of this work

Person as scientist, person as moralist.Joshua Knobe - 2010 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33 (4):315.
Context, content, and relativism.Michael Glanzberg - 2007 - Philosophical Studies 136 (1):1--29.
Semantic Plasticity and Speech Reports.Cian Dorr & John Hawthorne - 2014 - Philosophical Review 123 (3):281-338.

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References found in this work

Outline of a theory of truth.Saul Kripke - 1975 - Journal of Philosophy 72 (19):690-716.
Vagueness, truth and logic.Kit Fine - 1975 - Synthese 30 (3-4):265-300.
Translations from the philosophical writings of Gottlob Frege.Gottlob Frege - 1980 - Oxford, England: Blackwell. Edited by P. T. Geach & Max Black.
English as a Formal Language.Richard Montague - 1970 - In B. Visentini, Linguaggi Nella Societ\'{a} e Nella Tecnica'. Edizioni di Communita. pp. 188-221.

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