Logic, language and computation, vol. 2
On the Representation of Context
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
Reasoning about Uncertainty
Game Theory and Linguistic Meaning
Game Theory and Linguistic Meaning
Vagueness is rational under uncertainty
Proceedings of the 17th Amsterdam colloquium conference on Logic, language and meaning
Perceptual ambiguity and the sorites
ViC'09 Proceedings of the 2009 international conference on Vagueness in communication
On truth-gaps, bipolar belief and the assertability of vague propositions
Artificial Intelligence
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Consideration of the metalinguistic effects of utterances involving vague terms has led Barker [1] to treat vagueness using a modified Stalnakerian model of assertion. I present a sorites-like puzzle for factual beliefs in the standard Stalnakerian model [28] and show that it can be resolved by enriching the model to make use of probabilistic belief spaces. An analogous problem arises for metalinguistic information in Barker's model, and I suggest that a similar enrichment is needed here as well. The result is a probabilistic theory of linguistic representation that retains a classical metalanguage but avoids the undesirable divorce between meaning and use inherent in the epistemic theory [34]. I also show that the probabilistic approach provides a plausible account of the sorites paradox and higher-order vagueness and that it fares well empirically and conceptually in comparison to leading competitors.