The Virtues of Vagueness in the Languages of Science
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9689427 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alexander Rosenberg (0000-0003-2276-2412, Dalhousie University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1975 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 281-305 |
| Publication date | 1975-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Dialogue (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0012-2173 • E-ISSN: 1759-0949 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0012217300043407 |
| OpenAlex | W2041656781 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
Philosophers have traditionally decried vagueness as an unmitigated evil, and natural scientists have consistently agreed with them. Nevertheless, as I hope to show, the vagueness of scientific terms has some important advantages for the theories in which these terms figure. In so arguing I do not mean to put the best face on some unpleasant facts or to make a virtue out of a necessity. I shall begin, however, by arguing that on some contemporary accounts of scientific language the vagueness of many scientific terms is unavoidable; if it is unavoidable then lamenting it is futile, and justifying it is idle. I shall go on to argue that, independent of these accounts, the advantages of exactness attained can sometimes be substantially outweighed by the disadvantages of vagueness foregone
Epistemology · Face (sociological concept) · Fuzzy logic · Linguistics · Natural (archaeology) · Sociology · Vagueness · Virtue · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · History · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science
| Highly cited | No |
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