How to Swim in Sinking Sands (Paperback)

Inga Bones

ISBN 10: 3957431972 / ISBN 13: 9783957431974

Published by Brill U Mentis, 2020

Paperback. This book reassesses philosophical approaches to linguistic vagueness, a puzzling feature of natural language that gives rise to the ancient Sorites paradox. The paradox consists in three claims: (1) One grain of sand does not make a heap. (2) One billion grains of sand do make a heap. (3) For any two amounts of sand differing by at most one grain: either both are heaps of sand, or neither one is. Claim (3) is rendered plausible by an initial conviction that vague predicates like 'heap' tolerate small changes. The repeated application of a tolerance principle to claim (2), however, yields the further proposition that one grain of sand does make a heap - which contradicts claim number one. Consequently, many philosophers reject or modify tolerance principles for vague predicates. Inga Bones reassesses prominent responses to the Sorites and defends a Wittgensteinian dissolution of the paradox. She argues that vague predicates are, indeed, tolerant and discusses how this finding relates to the paradox itself, to the notion of validity and to the concept of a borderline case. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9783957431974

Synopsis:

This book examines philosophical approaches to linguistic vagueness, a puzzling feature of natural language that gives rise to the ancient Sorites Paradox and challenges classical logic and semantics.
The Sorites, or Paradox of the Heap, consists in three claims: (1) One grain of sand does not make a heap. (2) One billion grains of sand do make a heap. (3) For any two amounts of sand differing by at most one grain: either both are heaps of sand, or neither one is. The third claim is rendered plausible by an initial conviction that vague predicates like 'heap' tolerate small changes. However, the repeated application of a tolerance principle to the second claim yields the further proposition that one grain of sand does make a heap - which contradicts claim number one. Consequently, many philosophers reject or modify tolerance principles for vague predicates.
Inga Bones reassesses prominent responses to the Sorites and defends a Wittgensteinian dissolution of the paradox. She argues that vague predicates are, indeed, tolerant and discusses how this finding relates to the paradox itself, to the notion of validity and to the concept of a borderline case.

About the Author: Inga Bones is a research assistant at the Institute of Philosophy at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Her current research project deals with non-ideal phenomena of language use such as hate speech, insults and devaluation.

Bibliographic Details

Title: How to Swim in Sinking Sands (Paperback)
Publisher: Brill U Mentis
Publication Date: 2020
Binding: Paperback
Condition: new