What is ontic vagueness?
There is ample divergence among students of vagueness as to what exactly should be understood by a vague object, or by ontic, or metaphysical vagueness in general. In fact, the very intelligibility of the notion of a vague object has been called into question by important philosophers in the pas...
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| Language: | English |
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Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Filosofia Unisinos |
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/filosofia/article/view/27326 |
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| author | Silvio Seno Chibeni |
| author_facet | Silvio Seno Chibeni |
| author_sort | Silvio Seno Chibeni |
| collection | DOAJ |
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There is ample divergence among students of vagueness as to what exactly should be understood by a vague object, or by ontic, or metaphysical vagueness in general. In fact, the very intelligibility of the notion of a vague object has been called into question by important philosophers in the past, indicating that the task of finding a coherent, philosophically fertile characterization of the notion is not a simple one. This article aims to contribute to this undertaking, by identifying, examining and comparing some of the main proposals in the literature. It is suggested that we should try to characterize vague properties and relations independently of any particular view about vague objects, and then to formulate a criterion for vague objects in terms of indefinite instantiation of sharp properties. It is shown that this approach makes it easier to evaluate certain semantic-epistemic dismissive strategies concerning the possibility of there being vague objects. It is briefly indicated that if the objects are analysed with the theoretical and conceptual resources of quantum physics (and not of classical physics, as is ordinarily done), such dismissive strategies are seriously undermined.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0ddcaa6da0c6483aa4d5d1bca9aa8161 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1984-8234 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Filosofia Unisinos |
| spelling | doaj-art-0ddcaa6da0c6483aa4d5d1bca9aa81612024-11-28T17:59:31ZengUniversidade do Vale do Rio dos SinosFilosofia Unisinos1984-82342024-11-0125310.4013/fsu.2024.253.12What is ontic vagueness? Silvio Seno Chibeni0Universidade Estadual de Campinas – UNICAMP There is ample divergence among students of vagueness as to what exactly should be understood by a vague object, or by ontic, or metaphysical vagueness in general. In fact, the very intelligibility of the notion of a vague object has been called into question by important philosophers in the past, indicating that the task of finding a coherent, philosophically fertile characterization of the notion is not a simple one. This article aims to contribute to this undertaking, by identifying, examining and comparing some of the main proposals in the literature. It is suggested that we should try to characterize vague properties and relations independently of any particular view about vague objects, and then to formulate a criterion for vague objects in terms of indefinite instantiation of sharp properties. It is shown that this approach makes it easier to evaluate certain semantic-epistemic dismissive strategies concerning the possibility of there being vague objects. It is briefly indicated that if the objects are analysed with the theoretical and conceptual resources of quantum physics (and not of classical physics, as is ordinarily done), such dismissive strategies are seriously undermined. https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/filosofia/article/view/27326ontic vagueness, metaphysical vagueness, vague objects, sharp properties. |
| spellingShingle | Silvio Seno Chibeni What is ontic vagueness? Filosofia Unisinos ontic vagueness, metaphysical vagueness, vague objects, sharp properties. |
| title | What is ontic vagueness? |
| title_full | What is ontic vagueness? |
| title_fullStr | What is ontic vagueness? |
| title_full_unstemmed | What is ontic vagueness? |
| title_short | What is ontic vagueness? |
| title_sort | what is ontic vagueness |
| topic | ontic vagueness, metaphysical vagueness, vague objects, sharp properties. |
| url | https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/filosofia/article/view/27326 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT silviosenochibeni whatisonticvagueness |