PHIL 285 - Special Topics: A

PHIL 285 - Special Topics: A Vagueness Primer

Spring 2005
Agustín Rayo

Meetings:

Tuesdays 1:00 - 3:50 in the seminar room. (Officially, office hours are by appointment, but please feel free to show up in my office any time!)

The plan:

The seminar is intended as an introduction to vagueness. We'll survey some prominent accounts of vagueness, so that people get a sense of what `accounting for vagueness' is all about, and why it's hard.

Readings:

The course will be based on the following two books:

Keefe, R. and Smith, P. (eds.) Vagueness: A Reader, MIT Press, 1996.
Williamson, T. Vagueness, Routledge, 1994.

Both of them are superb - you won't regret buying them. But I'll make copies available in the library for people who don't.

Tentative Schedule

Starred texts are especially encouraged.

March 29: Why bother?
* Russell, B. `Vagueness' (in Keefe and Smith)
Williamson, T. `The ideal of precision' (Chapter 2 of Vagueness)
April 5: Degrees of Truth
* Machina, K. `Truth, belief and vagueness' (in Keefe and Smith)
* Sainsbury, R. M. `Concepts without boundaries' (in Keefe and Smith)
Williamson, T. `Many-valued logic and degrees of truth' (chapter 4 of Vagueness)
April 12: Supervaluationism (part 1)
* Fine, K. `Vagueness, truth and logic' (in Keefe and Smith) - no need to feel guilty if you end up skipping section 5
Williamson, T. `Supervaluations' (chapter 5 of Vagueness)
April 19: Supervaluationism (part 2)
* McGee, V. and McLaughlin, B. `Distinctions without a difference', Southern Journal of Philosophy (Supplement) 33, 1995, pp. 203-51.
Williamson, T. `Supervaluations' (chapter 5 of Vagueness)
April 26: The Problem of the Many
* Lewis, D. `Many, but Almost One' in Bacon, J. et al. (eds.) Ontology, Causality and Mind: Essays in Honour of D M Armstrong, Cambridge University Press, 1993; reprinted in Lewis, D. Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
McGee, Vann and Brian McLaughlin (2000) ìThe Lessons of the Manyî Philosophical Topics 28: 129-51.
May 3: Vagueness in the World
* Evans, G. `Can there be vague objects?' (in Keefe and Smith)
* Lewis, D. `Vague identity: Evans misunderstood?' (in Keefe and Smith)
Hawley, K. `Vagueness and Existence', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, CII.2 (2002), pp 125-140.
May 10: Epistemicism
* Williamson, T. `Vagueness as Ignorance' (chapter 7 of Vagueness)
* Williamson, T. `Inexact Knowledge' (chapter 8 of Vagueness)
May 17: Contextualism
* Graff, D. `Shifting Sands: An Interest-Relative Theory of Vagueness', Philosophical Topics 28, 2000, pp. 45-81.
Raffman, D. `Vagueness Without Paradox', Philosophical Review 103, 1994, pp. 41-74.
May 24: Nihilism
* Wright, C. `Language Mastery and the Sorites Paradox' (in Keefe and Smith)
Williamson, T. `Nihilism' (chapter 6 of Vagueness)
May 31: tba

There is an enormous literature on vagueness. Come see me if you'd like to know about further readings -- or check out the following website:
http://www.btinternet.com/~justin.needle/bib_themes.htm

Course Requirements:

If you're taking the course for credit, I'll ask you to turn in a paper by the end of the term. Please don't hesitate to come see me if you'd like to think about your paper out loud, or if you'd like to run an argument by me. I'd also be happy to look at early drafts of your papers.