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Perceptual Ambiguity and the Sorites

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Book cover Vagueness in Communication (VIC 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 6517))

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Abstract

The sorites paradox results from two equally plausible constraints on categorization in sorites series: a constraint of category switch between the first and the last items, and a constraint of similarity or consistent judgment for adjacent items. Following the work of D. Raffman [27,28] this paper argues that both constraints can be met if we assume that borderline cases pattern as ambiguous items between opposing categories. I first review some empirical evidence in favor of this view. I then examine how it bears on the tolerance principle, from a descriptive and from a normative viewpoint. In particular, I discuss ways in which the account of tolerance outlined in [6] can be related to Smith’s [37] fuzzy account, as well as to the similarity-based semantics for vague predicates proposed by van Rooij [34] and explored in recent work with Cobreros et al. [4].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Jean-Nicod (CNRS), DEC-ENS, 29 rue d’Ulm, 75005, Paris, France

    Paul Égré

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  1. Paul Égré
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Utrecht Institute for Linguistics OTS, Utrecht University, Janskerkhof 13a, 3512, Utrecht, BL, The Netherlands

    Rick Nouwen

  2. Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), University of Amsterdam, Oude Turfmarkt 141-147, 1012, Amsterdam, GC, The Netherlands

    Robert van Rooij

  3. Zentrum für allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Schützenstraße 18, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Uli Sauerland

  4. Fraunhofer FIT, Schloss Birlinghoven, 53757, Sankt Augustin, Germany

    Hans-Christian Schmitz

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Égré, P. (2011). Perceptual Ambiguity and the Sorites. In: Nouwen, R., van Rooij, R., Sauerland, U., Schmitz, HC. (eds) Vagueness in Communication. VIC 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6517. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18446-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18446-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-18445-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18446-8

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