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97Lessons for Vagueness from Scrambled SoritesMetaphysica 14 (2): 225-237. 2013.Vagueness demands many boundaries. Each is permissible, in that a thinker may without error use it to distinguish objects, though none is mandatory. This is revealed by a thought experiment—scrambled sorites—in which objects from a sorites series are presented in a random order, and subjects are required to make their judgments without access to any previous objects or their judgments concerning them.
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382Understanding as immersionPhilosophical Issues 16 (1). 2006.Understanding has often been regarded as a kind of knowledge. This paper argues that this view is very implausible for understanding words. Instead, a proper account will be of the “analytic-genetic” variety: it will describe immersion in the practice of using a word in such a way that even those not previously equipped with the concepts the word expresses can become immersed. Meeting this condition requires attention to findings in developmental psychology. If you understand a declarative utter…Read more
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45Logical Forms: An Introduction to Philosophical LogicPhilosophical Quarterly 42 (167): 243. 1992.Logical Forms explains both the detailed problems involved in finding logical forms and also the theoretical underpinnings of philosophical logic. In this revised edition, exercises are integrated throughout the book. The result is a genuinely interactive introduction which engages the reader in developing the argument. Each chapter concludes with updated notes to guide further reading
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81Russell on constructions and fictionsTheoria 46 (1): 19-36. 1980.Russell says that logical constructions are fictions. Does this show that he took them not to be real things?
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43Can Rational Dialetheism Be Refuted By Considerations about Negation and Denial?ProtoSociology 10 216-229. 1997.Rational dialetheism is the view that for some contradictions, it is rational to believe that they are true. The view, associated with the work of among others, Graham Priest, looks as if it must lead to absurd consequences, and the present paper is an unsuccessful attempt to find them. In particular, I suggest that there is no non-question-begging account of acceptance, denial and negation which can be brought to bear against the rational dialetheist. Finally, I consider the prospect of attacki…Read more
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Areas of Interest
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Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Mind |
M&E, Misc |