tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post2196184119770471740..comments2024-03-28T13:23:50.623-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Vague propositionsAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-90723707980396913252016-12-15T11:48:19.080-06:002016-12-15T11:48:19.080-06:00Sure, but that's where the distinction needs t...Sure, but that's where the distinction needs to be made. If Jim intended the concept of 2 being added to 2 and yielding 4, then there is nothing vague about that, even if his use of language is somehow hampered (or if someone fails to apprehend his meaning).Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-34077325964892798762016-12-15T10:45:16.562-06:002016-12-15T10:45:16.562-06:00What one intends to express can be vague, too.What one intends to express can be vague, too.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-24430866547911546662016-12-15T10:22:20.941-06:002016-12-15T10:22:20.941-06:00What about what Jim INTENDED to say? Isn't tha...What about what Jim INTENDED to say? Isn't that really the issue. "Vagueness in sounds/words" only matters to listeners. Jim knows what he intended to express, and there is no vagueness there.Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-24808124326526268672016-12-14T15:42:25.192-06:002016-12-14T15:42:25.192-06:00Yes, that'll do. I think it's pretty count...Yes, that'll do. I think it's pretty counterintuitive, though. Wouldn't that have the consequence that it's never vague whether someone is bald, it's just vague whether the word "bald" applies to them? B. FORSTADThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07023220298828691366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-39066135350775842422016-12-14T15:29:48.971-06:002016-12-14T15:29:48.971-06:00Maybe vagueness just doesn't apply to proposit...Maybe vagueness just doesn't apply to propositions, but only to sentences? Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-5919974455151739972016-12-14T14:23:07.445-06:002016-12-14T14:23:07.445-06:00Okay, sure. I don't think I really buy that, b...Okay, sure. I don't think I really buy that, but I'm not a Christian so I don't have to. But anyway, even if vagueness doesn't exclude knowledge, it surely excludes something (aprioricity?) that 2+2=4 possesses. We can't seriously hold that all truths are vague, but it seems that for all propositions it is possible that it is vaguely true that an utterance means it. And that doesn't mean that propositions are all vague. So there must be a difference between vagueness and vagueness of meaning.B. FORSTADThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07023220298828691366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-87653945816186317232016-12-14T11:11:03.713-06:002016-12-14T11:11:03.713-06:00I know that it's commonly thought in the vague...I know that it's commonly thought in the vagueness literature that vagueness excludes knowledge, but that seems likely to be false. <br /><br />If vagueness does not exclude truth and there is such a thing as vagueness, then vagueness does not exclude the possibility of knowledge. After all, God knows all truths, including any vague ones, and he could then testify to vague truths to us, and thereby give us knowledge of them.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-67550807383089302492016-12-14T06:41:59.988-06:002016-12-14T06:41:59.988-06:00I would call propositional vagueness "vaguene...I would call propositional vagueness "vagueness." I'm not sure about the existence of the other kind. It could be called "semantic vagueness," I suppose. But I'm not sure that it is really a kind of vagueness at all, except in the sense that it is vagueness of semantic relations. Semantic vagueness, unlike vagueness, does not exclude the possibility of knowledge. If it is vague whether "2+2=4" means that 2+2=4, then it is still possible for someone to know that 2+2=4 (although I think they would have to know it by some means other than internalizing "2+2=4") B. FORSTADThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07023220298828691366noreply@blogger.com