Cuts and Clouds: Vaguenesss, Its Nature and Its Logic

Vagueness is a familiar but deeply puzzling aspect of the relation between language and the world. It is highly controversial what the nature of vagueness is -- a feature of the way we represent reality in language, or rather a feature of reality itself? May even relations like identity or parthood be affected by vagueness? Sorites arguments suggest that vague terms are either inconsistent or have a sharp boundary. The account we give of such paradoxes plays a pivotal role for our understanding of natural languages. If our reasoning involves any vague concepts, is it safe from contradiction? Do vague concepts really lack any sharp boundary? If not, why are we reluctant to accept the existence of any sharp boundary for them? And what rules of inference can we validly apply, if we reason in vague terms? Cuts and Clouds presents the latest work towards a clearer understanding of these old puzzles about the nature and logic of vagueness. The collection offers a stimulating series of original essays on these and related issues by some of the world's leading experts.

Richard Dietz received his PhD from the University of Oxford. He has held research positions at the Archi?? Research Centre in St Andrews and the Institute for Philosophical Research in Mexico City. He is currently Research Fellow at the Centre for Logic and Analytical Philosophical, at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Leuven.

Sebastiano Moruzzi received his PhD from the University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogradro." He has held a research position at the Archi?? Research Centre in St Andrews. He is currently Research Fellow at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna.