Vagueness in Context [Hardcover]

Stewart Shapiro's ambition inVagueness in Contextis 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.

1. The nature of vagueness: Humpty Dumpty gets his due
2. Interlude: the place and role of model theory
3. A start on model theory
4. Connectives, quantifiers, logic
5. Refinements and extensions I: so-called 'higher-order vagueness'
6. Refinements and extensions II: objects, identity, and abstracts
7. Metaphysical matters: language, the WORLD, and objectivity
Appendix: Waismann on open-texture and analyticity

Shapiro has produced a rich book, packed with ideas that are always interesting and stimulating, often profound, and sometimes provocative. --The Review of Modern Logic