Premium
The Argument from Vagueness
Author(s) -
Korman Daniel Z.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2010.00327.x
Subject(s) - vagueness , universalism , argument (complex analysis) , variety (cybernetics) , epistemology , philosophy , mereology , computer science , political science , artificial intelligence , linguistics , law , fuzzy logic , biochemistry , chemistry , politics
Universalism is the thesis that composition is unrestricted: for any non‐overlapping objects, those objects compose something. One of the most influential arguments for universalism is the argument from vagueness, first advanced by David Lewis and later elaborated and defended by Theodore Sider. I supply a reconstruction of the argument and survey a variety of responses to it.