Abstract
I provide an intuitive, semantic account of a new logic forcomparisons (CL), in which atomic statements are assigned both aclassical truth-value and a ``how much'' value or extension in the range [0, 1]. The truth-value of each comparison is determinedby the extensions of its component sentences; the truth-value ofeach atomic depends on whether its extension matches a separatestandard for its predicate; everything else is computed classically. CL is less radical than Casari's comparative logics, in that it does not allow for the formation of comparative statements out of truth-functional molecules. I argue that CL provides a betteranalysis of comparisons and predicate vagueness than classicallogic, fuzzy logic or supervaluation theory. CL provides a modelfor descriptions of the world in terms of comparisons only. Thesorites paradox can be solved by the elimination of atomic sentences.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Casari, E.: 1987, 'Comparative Logics', Synthese 73, 421–449.
Fine, K.: 1975, 'Vagueness, Truth, and Logic', Synthese 30, 265–300.
Kamp, J. A. W.: 1975, 'Two Theories about Adjectives', in E. L. Keenan (ed.), Formal Semantics of Natural Language, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Lakoff, G.: 1971, 'Linguistics and Natural Logic', in Davidson and Harmon (eds.), Semantics of Natural Language, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Lakoff, G.: 1972, 'Hedges: A Study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts', Chicago Linguistic Society 8, 183–228.
Lukasiewicz, J. and A. Tarski: 1930, 'Investigations into the Sentential Calculus', in Tarski, Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics (Oxford University, Oxford, 1956).
Stalnaker, R.: 1977, 'Complex Predicates', Monist 60, 327–339.
Williamson, T.: 1994, Vagueness, Routledge, London.
Zadeh, L.: 1965, 'Fuzzy Sets', Information Control 8, 000–000.
Zadeh, L.: 1971, 'Quantitative Fuzzy Semantics', Information Sciences 3, 159–176.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Everett, T.J. A Simple Logic for Comparisons and Vagueness. Synthese 123, 263–278 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005283218535
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005283218535