Vagueness and Rationality in Language Use and Cognition (Language, Cognition, and Mind (5))

This volume presents new conceptual and experimental studies which investigate the connection between vagueness and rationality from various systematic directions, such as philosophy, linguistics, cognitive psychology, computing science, and economics. Vagueness in language use and cognition has traditionally been interpreted in epistemic or semantic terms. The standard view of vagueness specifically suggests that considerations of agency or rationality, broadly conceived, can be left out of the equation. Most recently, new literature on vagueness has been released which suggests that the standard view is inadequate and that considerations of rationality should factor into more comprehensive models of vagueness. The methodological approaches presented here are diverse, ranging from philosophical interpretations of rational credence for vagueness to adaptations of choice theory (dynamic choice theory, revealed preference models, social choice theory), probabilistic models of pragmatic reasoning (Bayesian pragmatics), evolutionary game theory, and conceptual space models of categorisation. I have no doubt that this volume will be a valuable contribution to the current literature on the topic. All chapters are refreshingly original, and they offer surprising connections between vagueness as a semantic phenomenon and other seemingly unrelated problems in game theory, Bayesian epistemology or social choice theory. As a result, the reader is able to acquire a broad understanding of the problem, as well as a sense of its pervasiveness. The book also exhibits a delicate balance between conceptual and experimental approaches to vagueness. It is highly recommended to scholars and graduate students working on epistemology, philosophy of language, cognitive psychology, or linguistics. Eleonora Cresto, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina Preface 6 Contents 8 Contributors 9 Introduction 10 References 12 Vagueness in Rational Choice 13 Vagueness and Imprecise Credence 14 1 Introduction 14 2 Nihilism 16 3 Vagueness 19 4 Supervaluationism 22 5 Imprecise Probabilism 25 6 Complex Claims 26 7 Decision Theory 30 8 Higher-Order Vagueness 34 9 Conclusion 36 References 36 Problems of Precision in Fuzzy Theories of Vagueness and Bayesian Epistemology 38 1 Introduction 38 2 Fuzzy Theories of Vagueness 39 3 Bayesian Epistemology 41 4 Two Aspects of Thinking Agents 42 5 A Dispositional Argument Against Bayesianism? 44 6 Arguments in the Literature 50 7 Conclusion 53 References 54 Regret, Sub-optimality, and Vagueness 56 References 66 Rationality in Vague Language Use and Cognition 67 The Elusive Benefits of Vagueness: Evidence from Experiments 68 1 Introduction 68 2 Related Work 70 3 Our Approach to the Problem 72 4 Experiment 1: Separating Vagueness from Instruction Format 74 4.1 Hypotheses (Experiment 1) 77 4.2 Results (Experiment 1) 77 4.3 Discussion (Experiment 1) 79 5 Experiment 2: Focus on Instructions that Contain Numerals 80 5.1 Hypotheses (Experiment 2) 80 5.2 Results (Experiment 2) 81 5.3 Discussion (Experiment 2) 83 6 Experiment 3: Focus on Instructions that Do Not Contain Numerals 83 6.1 Hypotheses (Experiment 3) 84 6.2 Results (Experiment 3) 84 6.3 Discussion (Experiment 3) 86 7 Discussion of Experiments 2 and 3 86 8 General Discussion 86 References 89 Towards an Ecology of Vagueness 92 1 Vagueness and Rationality 92 2 Signaling Games 95 3 Vagueness in Sim-Max Games 98 4 The Ecology of Vagueness 103 5 Two Multi-population Models of Imprecise Imitation 105 5.1 Tight Population Interaction 106 5.2 Loose Population Interaction 110 6 Conclusions 116 References 117 The Rationality of Vagueness 119 1 Introduction 119 2 The Conceptual Spaces Framework 121 3 Conceptual Spaces and Vagueness 124 4 Naturalness and Design 127 5 Rationality and Vagueness 132 References 137 Semantic Indecision 139 1 Limitations on Collective Choice 142 2 Choice Theory for Adjectival Semantics 145 3 Multidimensional Adjectives as Collective Choice Functions 146 4 Some Vagueness Effects May Follow from Limitations on Collective Choice 150 References 154 Grounding a Pragmatic Theory of Vagueness on Experimental Data: Semi-orders and Weber's Law 157 1 Introduction 157 2 Experimental Evidence 161 2.1 Experiment 1 162 2.2 Experiment 2 165 2.3 Interpretation of the Experimental Data 171 3 Modeling by Semi-orders and Challenges 172 3.1 Semi-orders and Indirect Versus Direct Comparisons 172 3.2 Challenges for the Semi-Order Approach 174 4 Answering the Challenges 176 4.1 Revisiting the Gap Hypothesis 176 4.2 Meeting Fults' Objections 177 4.3 The Interpretation of the Threshold 180 5 Conclusion 182 References 185 Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Richard Dietz)....Pages 1-3 Front Matter ....Pages 5-5 Vagueness and Imprecise Credence (Anna Mahtani)....Pages 7-30 Problems of Precision in Fuzzy Theories of Vagueness and Bayesian Epistemology (Nicholas J. J. Smith)....Pages 31-48 Regret, Sub-optimality, and Vagueness (Chrisoula Andreou)....Pages 49-59 Front Matter ....Pages 61-61 The Elusive Benefits of Vagueness: Evidence from Experiments (Matthew James Green, Kees van Deemter)....Pages 63-86 Towards an Ecology of Vagueness (José Pedro Correia, Michael Franke)....Pages 87-113 The Rationality of Vagueness (Igor Douven)....Pages 115-134 Semantic Indecision (Timothy W. Grinsell)....Pages 135-152 Grounding a Pragmatic Theory of Vagueness on Experimental Data: Semi-orders and Weber’s Law (Robert van Rooij, Arnold Kochari)....Pages 153-183