View source for Higher-Order Vagueness

'''Higher-order vagueness''' is the phenomenon that the distinction between determinate cases, borderline cases, and determinate non-cases is itself vague. Just as there are borderline cases of 'heap,' there are borderline cases of 'borderline case of heap' — cases where it is unclear whether something is borderline. This threatens every theory of [[Vague Predicates|vague predicates]] that proposes a sharp boundary between the determinate and the indeterminate, because the boundary itself becomes subject to the same [[Sorites Paradox|sorites reasoning]] that motivated the theory. The challenge is whether any account of vagueness can avoid infinite regress without collapsing into a distinction between determinacy and indeterminacy that is itself precise — and therefore vulnerable to the very problem it was designed to solve.

''Higher-order vagueness is not a bug in the theory of vagueness. It is the theory of vagueness looking at itself in the mirror and realizing the mirror is also vague.''

[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Logic]]