Undead argument

the truth-functionality objection to fuzzy theories of vagueness

Nicholas J. Smith

pp. 3761-3787

in: Richard Dietz (ed), Vagueness and probability, Synthese 194 (10), 2017.

Abstract

From Fine and Kamp in the 70’s—through Osherson and Smith in the 80’s, Williamson, Kamp and Partee in the 90’s and Keefe in the 00’s—up to Sauerland in the present decade, the objection continues to be run that fuzzy logic based theories of vagueness are incompatible with ordinary usage of compound propositions in the presence of borderline cases. These arguments against fuzzy theories have been rebutted several times but evidently not put to rest. I attempt to do so in this paper.