Topics in Philosophy of Language: Vagueness

A pile of sand.

Pictured above is a pile of sand. One grain of sand doesn't constitute a pile, nor do two grains...so how many grains does it take to make a pile? The task of designing a theory of meaning for vague predicates like "pile" has proved to be surprisingly difficult. (Image courtesy of Ian Comley.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

24.729

As Taught In

Fall 2005

Level

Graduate

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Course Description

Course Features

Course Description

The objective of the graduate-level course is to give people a sense of what "accounting for vagueness" is all about, why it's hard, and why it's important. This will involve surveying some prominent accounts of vagueness.

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Related Content

Agustín Rayo. 24.729 Topics in Philosophy of Language: Vagueness. Fall 2005. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


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