This section features the two books used most often in this course and a list of readings by session. Students are especially encouraged to read the starred (*) texts.
Required Texts
Keefe, Rosanna, and Peter Smith, eds. Vagueness: A Reader. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997. ISBN: 0262112256.
Williamson, Timothy. Vagueness. New York, NY: Routledge, 1994. ISBN: 0415033314.
Readings by Session
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Why Bother? |
* Russell, Bertrand. "Vagueness." In Vagueness: A Reader. Williamson, Timothy. "The ideal of precision." Chapter 2 in Vagueness. |
| 2 | Degrees of Truth |
* Machina, Kenton F. "Truth, belief and vagueness." In Vagueness: A Reader. * Sainsbury, R. M. "Concepts without boundaries." In Vagueness: A Reader. Williamson, Timothy. "Many-valued logic and degrees of truth." Chapter 4 in Vagueness. |
| 3 | Supervaluationism (Part 1) |
* Fine, Kit. "Vagueness, truth and logic." In Vagueness: A Reader. (No need to feel guilty if you skip section 5.) Williamson, Timothy. "Supervaluations." Chapter 5 in Vagueness. |
| 4 | Supervaluationism (Part 2) |
* McGee, Vann, and Brian McLaughlin. "Distinctions without a Difference." Southern Journal of Philosophy (Supplement) 33 (1995): 203-51. McGee, Vann. "A Semantic Conception of Truth?" Philosophical Topics 21 (1993): 83-111. Williamson, Timothy. "Supervaluations." Chapter 5 in Vagueness. |
| 5 | Vagueneess in the World |
* Evans, Gareth. "Can there be vague objects?" In Vagueness: A Reader. * Lewis, David. "Vague identity: Evans misunderstood?" In Vagueness: A Reader. Williamson, Timothy. Chapter 9 in Vagueness. |
| 6 | Epistemicism (Part 1) |
* Williamson, Timothy. "Vagueness as Ignorance." Chapter 7 in Vagueness. ———. "Inexact Knowledge." Chapter 8 in Vagueness. |
| 7 | Epistemicism (Part 2) | * Williamson, Timothy. "Inexact Knowledge." Chapter 8 in Vagueness. |
| 8 | Contextualism |
* Graff, Delia. "Shifting Sands: An Interest-Relative Theory of Vagueness." Philosophical Topics 28 (2000): 45-81. Raffman, Diana. "Vagueness Without Paradox." Philosophical Review 103, no. 1 (January, 1994): 41-74. |
| 9 | Nihilism |
* Wright, Crispin. "Language Mastery and the Sorites Paradox." In Vagueness: A Reader. Williamson, Timothy. "Nihilism." Chapter 6 in Vagueness. |
| 10 | Eklund Extravangza |
Guest Lecturer: Matti Eklund (Cornell University) * Dummett Michael. "Wang's Paradox." In Vaugeness: A Reader. (With special emphasis on Dummett's positive view, discussed toward the end.) * Eklund, Matti. "What Vagueness Consists in." In Philosophical Studies 125 (2005): 27-60. Also, The following are very-much-non-required readingsEklund, Matti. "Vagueness and Second-Level Indeterminacy." (Very much work in progress.) Weatherson, Brian. "Vagueness as Indeterminacy." October 19, 2006. |
| 11 | My Own Views |
*Rayo, Agustín. "Vague Representation." October 20, 2006. Stalnaker. "Assertion." In Context and Content: Essays on Intentionality in Speech and Thought. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0198237073. (This is an important book. You should buy it, if you don't own a copy already.) Lewis, David. "Scorekeeping in a Language Game." In Philosophical Papers, vol. 1. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1983. ISBN: 0195032039. (This too is a collection you should own.) |
| 12 | Latter-Day Crispinology |
* Wright, Crispin. "Vagueness: A Fifth Column Approach." In Liars and Heaps. Edited by J. C. Beall. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN: 0199264813. ———. "On being in a Quandary: Relativism, Vagueness, Logical Revisionism." Mind 110 (2001): 45-98. |