Vagueness and Rationality in Language Use and Cognition

Description

This volume presents new conceptual and experimental studies which investigate the connection between vagueness and rationality from various systematic directions, such as philosophy, linguistics, cognitive psychology, computing science, and economics. Vagueness in language use and cognition has traditionally been interpreted in epistemic or semantic terms. The standard view of vagueness specifically suggests that considerations of agency or rationality, broadly conceived, can be left out of the equation. Most recently, new literature on vagueness has been released which suggests that the standard view is inadequate and that considerations of rationality should factor into more comprehensive models of vagueness. The methodological approaches presented here are diverse, ranging from philosophical interpretations of rational credence for vagueness to adaptations of choice theory (dynamic choice theory, revealed preference models, social choice theory), probabilistic models of pragmatic reasoning (Bayesian pragmatics), evolutionary game theory, and conceptual space models of categorisation. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Richard Dietz)....Pages 1-3 Front Matter ....Pages 5-5 Vagueness and Imprecise Credence (Anna Mahtani)....Pages 7-30 Problems of Precision in Fuzzy Theories of Vagueness and Bayesian Epistemology (Nicholas J. J. Smith)....Pages 31-48 Regret, Sub-optimality, and Vagueness (Chrisoula Andreou)....Pages 49-59 Front Matter ....Pages 61-61 The Elusive Benefits of Vagueness: Evidence from Experiments (Matthew James Green, Kees van Deemter)....Pages 63-86 Towards an Ecology of Vagueness (José Pedro Correia, Michael Franke)....Pages 87-113 The Rationality of Vagueness (Igor Douven)....Pages 115-134 Semantic Indecision (Timothy W. Grinsell)....Pages 135-152 Grounding a Pragmatic Theory of Vagueness on Experimental Data: Semi-orders and Weber’s Law (Robert van Rooij, Arnold Kochari)....Pages 153-183