Vagueness in geography

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12459641
AutoresAchille C Varzi (0000-0001-9410-0405, autor de correspondencia)
Año2001
Volumen4
Número1
Páginas49-65
Fecha de publicación2001-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPhilosophy and Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1090-3771 • E-ISSN: 1472-7242
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10903770124125
OpenAlexW2065974852
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas23

Some have argued that the vagueness exhibited by geographic names and descriptions such as ‘Albuquerque’, ‘the Outback’, or ‘Mount Everest ’ is ultimately ontological: these terms are vague because they refer to vague objects, objects with fuzzy boundaries. I take the opposite stand and hold the view that geographic vagueness is exclusively semantic, or conceptual at large. There is no such thing as a vague mountain. Rather, there are many things where we conceive a mountain to be, each with its precise boundary, and when we say ‘Everest ’ we are just being vague as to which thing we are referring to. This paper defends this view against some plausible objections

Boundary (topology · Epistemology · Fuzzy logic · Linguistics · Ontology · Sociology · Vagueness · Categorization, perception, and language · Geographic Information Systems Studies · Mathematics · Philosophy · Semantic Web and Ontologies