Russell and Vagueness

Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies 23 (1) (2003)
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Abstract

In this paper I present the philosophical backdrop to Russell's 1923 "Vagueness" paper. I argue that his view of vagueness in 1923 is the result of a rise in the importance of symbolism in his thinking coupled with a new interest in psychology. I show how these new interests are related to concerns he had with his theory of judgment as well as his logicist project. I attend to the two major complaints against his view of vagueness: that all language is vague and his purported conflation of vagueness with generality. I lastly show how Russell's view is distinct from modern approaches to vagueness in so far as he is not concerned with truth-value gaps but instead sees vagueness as applying primarily to what is cognitive and as a transitory position between ignorance and knowledge.

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Citations of this work

From Moore to Peano to Watson.James Levine - 2008 - The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication 4:200.
The Mathematical Roots Of Russell’s Naturalism And Behaviorism.James Levine - 2008 - The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication 4.

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