The Philosopher's Arms

Sorites' Heap

Aug 16, 2013
James Nielsen, a lawyer who drafts government bills and wrestles with real-world cutoffs. Joseph Melia, a philosopher tracing the sorites paradox and debates over vagueness. They explore baldness and heap puzzles, legal definitions like lap-dancing and raves, age cutoffs in law, and contrasts between precision, fuzzy logic, and ordinary language.
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INSIGHT

Sorites Shows Vague Terms Create Logical Paradoxes

  • The Sorites paradox exposes that plausible premises plus a plausible inference can produce absurd conclusions about vague terms like heap or bald.
  • Joseph Melia explains the classic chain: one grain/hair added or removed seems irrelevant but iterated yields paradoxical denial of heaps/baldness.
INSIGHT

Vagueness Can Be More Informative Than Precision

  • Later Wittgenstein values ordinary vague language for everyday use and warns against forcing artificial precision.
  • He argued vague answers (e.g. "about 50 or 60") can be more informative than overly precise but unhelpful numbers.
ANECDOTE

How Lawmakers Forced Vagueness Into Precise Rules

  • James Nielsen recounts drafting 2009 lap-dancing rules and choosing arbitrary precise criteria to avoid legal uncertainty.
  • They listed exposed body parts so venues could clearly know when a special sex establishment licence was required.
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