Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective

Programa de Doctorat en Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Mahoodi, Nasim
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/687446
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/687446
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Topologia
Topología
Topology
Vaguetat (Filosofia)
Vaguedad (Filosofía)
Vagueness (Philosophy)
Ciències Humanes i Socials
1
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dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
title Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
spellingShingle Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
Mahoodi, Nasim
Topologia
Topología
Topology
Vaguetat (Filosofia)
Vaguedad (Filosofía)
Vagueness (Philosophy)
Ciències Humanes i Socials
1
title_short Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
title_full Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
title_fullStr Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
title_sort Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological Perspective
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Mahoodi, Nasim
author Mahoodi, Nasim
author_facet Mahoodi, Nasim
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Mormann, Thomas
Martínez Fernández, José
García-Carpintero, Manuel
Universitat de Barcelona. Facultat de Filosofia
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Topologia
Topología
Topology
Vaguetat (Filosofia)
Vaguedad (Filosofía)
Vagueness (Philosophy)
Ciències Humanes i Socials
1
topic Topologia
Topología
Topology
Vaguetat (Filosofia)
Vaguedad (Filosofía)
Vagueness (Philosophy)
Ciències Humanes i Socials
1
description Programa de Doctorat en Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
2023
2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format doctoralThesis
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10803/687446
url http://hdl.handle.net/10803/687446
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 137 p.
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universitat de Barcelona
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universitat de Barcelona
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)
reponame:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
instname:CBUC, CESCA
instname_str CBUC, CESCA
reponame_str TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
collection TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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spelling Philosophy of Vagueness: A Topological PerspectiveMahoodi, NasimTopologiaTopologíaTopologyVaguetat (Filosofia)Vaguedad (Filosofía)Vagueness (Philosophy)Ciències Humanes i Socials1Programa de Doctorat en Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge[eng] This dissertation is a contribution to the application of topology to the philosophical problem of vagueness. We pursue two main goals: The first goal is to give an account of the main features of vague concepts. In our proposed account, vague concepts that are structured around typical cases (called poles), are boundaryless and have borderline cases. We show that this account of vague concepts can be used to deal with the Sorites paradox and higher-order vagueness. The second goal is to provide a topological model for vague concepts in a conceptual space based on previous works by Ian Rumfitt and Thomas Mormann. We use this topological model to show how one can keep the two truth-valued semantics of classical logic while still reject the principle of Bivalence. While our main concern is to give an account of vagueness, Rumfitt cares about classical logic that has been threatened by vagueness, because it shakens the firm wall between the extensions of concepts. We share the idea with him that the principle of Bivalence does not hold, yet disagree with him in accepting the third truth value. After the introduction, in Part II, through a literature review of some existing theo- ries of vagueness, we settle what is expected from a theory of vagueness. In Part III, we review the fundamental notions of topology to show how they can be fruitfully applied to better understand the structure of vague concepts. Part IV consists of three sections. Sections 5 and 6 are dedicated to a critical analysis of two other topological proposals, namely the Kantian model by Boniolo and Valentini and the topological approach of Weber and Colyvan which presents a continuous version of the Sorites paradox. Section 7 is a critical review of a prominent geometrical framework in cognitive science, namely Gärdenfors’ conceptual spaces, in which concepts are represented at a conceptual level. Conceptual spaces will be the base of our account. We discuss its pros and cons and following the recent works by Mormann on polar spaces, we show that conceptual spaces need a topological structure to be optimized. None of the previous views can answer or even aimed at answering all the questions relating to vagueness and finding a solution to the mentioned problems. Part V introduces a model for vagueness based on weakly scattered T0 Alexandroff spaces. Alexandroff spaces have a tight relation to modal logic and applications in computer science and image processing, among other fields. The model is a refinement and expansion of Rumfitt’s topological model and Mormann’s generalization of it. In order to make it apt to deal with the phenomenon of vagueness, we improve the model to a 3-layer-model by taking a closer look at the previous topological models to reveal their hidden properties and deficiencies. This new model reveals three layers in a concept: the first layer contains the typical cases of the concept, the second layer contains the almost typical cases of the concept and the third layer the borderline cases of the concept. The extension of a concept contains the typical and almost typical cases, i.e., it consists of the first two layers. These layers were hidden in the previous models. Then, we define the notions of borderline case and similarity relations in this model and we use them to explain in detail Rumfitt’s solution to the Sorites and sharp boundary paradoxes. The solution is based on the rejection of the tolerance principle in its strict sense. We propose a weak version of tolerance that holds in our model. We accept truth-value gaps but, pace Rumfitt, we do not accept a third alethic truth value. After that, we deal with the problem of higher-order vagueness and compare the proposed model to some of the dominant theories of vagueness. We end up with some suggestions to improve the model to overcome its limitations and to be able to answer further questions on vagueness.Universitat de BarcelonaMormann, ThomasMartínez Fernández, JoséGarcía-Carpintero, ManuelUniversitat de Barcelona. Facultat de Filosofia202320232023info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion137 p.application/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10803/687446TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)reponame:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Redinstname:CBUC, CESCAInglésADVERTIMENT. Tots els drets reservats. L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi doctoral i la seva utilització ha de respectar els drets de la persona autora. Pot ser utilitzada per a consulta o estudi personal, així com en activitats o materials d'investigació i docència en els termes establerts a l'art. 32 del Text Refós de la Llei de Propietat Intel·lectual (RDL 1/1996). Per altres utilitzacions es requereix l'autorització prèvia i expressa de la persona autora. En qualsevol cas, en la utilització dels seus continguts caldrà indicar de forma clara el nom i cognoms de la persona autora i el títol de la tesi doctoral. No s'autoritza la seva reproducció o altres formes d'explotació efectuades amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva comunicació pública des d'un lloc aliè al servei TDX. Tampoc s'autoritza la presentació del seu contingut en una finestra o marc aliè a TDX (framing). Aquesta reserva de drets afecta tant als continguts de la tesi com als seus resums i índexs.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:www.tdx.cat:10803/6874462026-06-14T12:46:07Z
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