Abstract
Stewart Shapiro recently argued that there is no higher-order vagueness. More specifically, his thesis is: (ST) ‘So-called second-order vagueness in ‘F’ is nothing but first-order vagueness in the phrase ‘competent speaker of English’ or ‘competent user of “F”’. Shapiro bases (ST) on a description of the phenomenon of higher-order vagueness and two accounts of ‘borderline case’ and provides several arguments in its support. We present the phenomenon (as Shapiro describes it) and the accounts; then discuss Shapiro’s arguments, arguing that none is compelling. Lastly, we introduce the account of vagueness Shapiro would have obtained had he retained compositionality and show that it entails true higher-order.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bobzien, S. (2010). If it’s clear, then it’s clear that it’s clear, or is it? - Higher-order vagueness and the S4 Axiom. In K. Ierodiakonou (Ed.), Essays in Honour of Jonathan Barnes. Oxford: OUP (forthcoming).
Eklund, M. (2006). Review of vagueness in context. Notre Dame Philosophy Reviews. http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=6624.
Fine, K. (1975). Vagueness, truth and logic. Synthèse, 30, 265–300. (Reprinted in Vagueness: A reader, by R. Keefe & P. Smith, Eds., 1997, Cambridge: CUP).
Glanzberg M. (2003) Against truth-value gaps. In: Beall J. (eds) Liars and heaps. OUP, Oxford, pp 151–194
Greenough, P. (2005). Higher-order vagueness. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 105(Suppl), 167–190.
Gross S. (2009) Review of vagueness in context. Philosophical Review 118: 261–266
Hyde D. (1994) Why higher-order vagueness is a pseudo-problem. Mind 103: 35–40
Keefe R. (2000) Theories of vagueness. CUP, Cambridge
Keefe R. (2007) Vagueness without context change. Mind 116: 275–292
McGee V., McLaughlin B (1995) Distinctions without a difference. Southern Journal of Philosophy 33(Suppl): 203–251
Sainsbury M. (1991) Is there higher-order vagueness?. Philosophical Quarterly 41: 167–182
Shapiro, S. (2005). Context, conversation, and so-called “higher-order” vagueness. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 105(Suppl), 147–165.
Shapiro S. (2006) Vagueness in context. OUP, Oxford
Soames S. (1999) Understanding truth. OUP, New York
Sorensen R. (2008) Semivaluationism: Putting vagueness in context in context. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 76: 471–483
Williamson T. (1999) On the structure of higher-order vagueness. Mind 108: 127–142
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bobzien, S. In defense of true higher-order vagueness. Synthese 180, 317–335 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-009-9704-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-009-9704-8