The Sorites Paradox

Description

For centuries, the sorites paradox has spurred philosophers to think and argue about the problem of vagueness. This volume offers a guide to the paradox which is both an accessible survey and an exposition of the state of the art, with a chapter-by-chapter presentation of all of the main solutions to the paradox and of all its main areas of influence. Each chapter offers a gentle introduction to its topic, gradually building up to a final discussion of some open problems. Students will find a comprehensive guide to the fundamentals of the paradox, together with lucid explanations of the challenges it continues to raise. Researchers will find exciting new ideas and debates on the paradox. Abstract......Page 1 Title page......Page 3 Contents......Page 5 Contributors......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Prelude......Page 11 An introduction to the Sorites Paradox......Page 13 Part I: Solutions to the Sorites Paradox......Page 29 1. Epistemicism and the Sorites Paradox......Page 31 2. Supervaluationism, subvaluationism and the Sorites Paradox......Page 48 3. Contextualism and the Sorites Paradox......Page 73 4. Incoherentism and the Sorites Paradox......Page 88 5. Intuitionism and the Sorites Paradox......Page 105 6. Rejection of exluded middle and the Sorites Paradox......Page 128 7. Dialetheism and the Sorites Paradox......Page 145 8. Degree theory and the Sorites Paradox......Page 161 9. Non-transitivism and the Sorites Paradox......Page 178 Part II: The influence of the Sorites Paradox......Page 197 10. The Sorites Paradox in philosophy of logic......Page 199 11. The Sorites Paradox in metaphysics......Page 217 12. The Sorites Paradox in practical philosophy......Page 239 13. The Sorites Paradox in linguistics......Page 256 14. The Sorites Paradox in psychology......Page 273 Coda......Page 297 15. The pre-analytic history of the Sorites Paradox......Page 299 References......Page 317 Index......Page 337