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Conceptual room for ontic vagueness
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dc.contributor.advisor | Hawley, Katherine (Katherine Jane) | |
dc.contributor.advisor | Nolan, Daniel | |
dc.contributor.author | Barnes, Elizabeth | |
dc.coverage.spatial | 232 | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2007-06-13T10:48:24Z | |
dc.date.available | 2007-06-13T10:48:24Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2007-06-20 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/348 | |
dc.description.abstract | This thesis is a systematic investigation of whether there might be conceptual room for the idea that the world itself might be vague, independently of how we describe it. This idea – the existence of so-called ontic vagueness – has generally been extremely unpopular in the literature; my thesis thus seeks to evaluate whether this ‘negative press’ is justified. I start by giving a working definition and semantics for ontic vagueness, and then attempt to show that there are no conclusive arguments that rule out vagueness of this kind. I subsequently establish what type of arguments I think would be most effective in establishing ontic vagueness and provide some arguments of this form. I then highlight a potential worry for this type of argument, but argue that it can be circumvented. Finally, I consider the main ways that the opponent of ontic vagueness would be likely resist the arguments I have offered, and argue that these strategies of response are methodologically problematic. I conclude by claiming that ontic vagueness is a perfectly plausible ontological commitment. | en |
dc.format.extent | 826198 bytes | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | University of St Andrews | |
dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported | |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ | |
dc.subject | Ontic vagueness | en |
dc.subject.lcc | B105.V3B2 | |
dc.subject.lcsh | Vagueness (Philosophy) | en |
dc.subject.lcsh | Ontology | en |
dc.title | Conceptual room for ontic vagueness | en |
dc.type | Thesis | en |
dc.type.qualificationlevel | Doctoral | en |
dc.type.qualificationname | PhD Doctor of Philosophy | en |
dc.publisher.institution | The University of St Andrews | en |
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