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Several pieces of legislation have sprung up in recent years in Florida aiming to restrict public school library books and curricular materials. Notably, this coincides with other state legislative moves to restrict what students read and learn in school with partisan purposes. Library associations have reported that nationally, removed books disproportionately contain LGBTQ and racial minority themes. One law at the heart of these restrictions, Florida HB 1467 (2022), empowers community members to challenge and remove public school books and adds bureaucratic obstacles to the access of previously allowable materials. The vague and broad language of the Florida law leads to erratic application by school districts across the state, resulting in the suppression of protected speech. This article examines a key constitutional tension: Under what circumstances does the students’ right to receive information under the First Amendment outweigh school officials’ authority, and, by extension, parental authority over local education under the Tenth Amendment? The U.S. Supreme Court in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico (1982) offers one answer, holding that political orthodoxy is an unacceptable rationale for removal, but pervasive vulgarity and educational unsuitability are acceptable. These three standards are useful, yet entangle in ways Pico is not fully suited to address. This article argues HB 1467 (2022) is unconstitutional under the political orthodoxy Pico standard, strict scrutiny analysis of content-based regulations, and the vagueness and overbreadth doctrines of the 1st Amendment.

In collective harm cases, bad consequences follow if enough people act in a certain way even though no such individual act makes a difference for the worse. Global warming, overfishing and Derek Parfit's famous case of the harmless torturers are some examples of such harm. Shelly Kagan argues that there is a threshold such that one single act might trigger harm in all collective harm cases. Julia Nefsky points to serious shortcomings in Kagan's argument, but does not show that his conclusion is incorrect. I argue that our best theories of vagueness (the epistemic view of vagueness, three-valued logic, and supervaluationism) entail that there is a threshold in all collective harm cases. However, my analysis points to another problem with Kagan's argument: the thresholds are not necessarily perceptible. Given the assumption that only perceptible differences matter morally, passing such a threshold does not necessarily trigger morally relevant harm, pace Kagan. Last, I consider two variants of Kagan's argument and find both problematic. One controversially assumes that observational relations like 'cannot perceive the difference between' are transitive. The other problematically assumes that so called triangulation always is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is fairly little research on using translation to advance pragmatic competence in learners of English and highlight how translation can advance cross-cultural pragmatic awareness in EFL. The study attempts to explore how audio-visual translation (AVT) can introduce cross-cultural pragmatics to Greek learners of English. The data derive from the animated film Inside Out (Pixar 2015). The study takes dubbed dialogues to be a target-oriented data set, with the subtitles as an intermediate, constrained type of transfer where pragmatic shifts may be least visible or not at all. The research uses (a) the positive/negative politeness distinction as manifested through interpersonal proximity/distance (Brown and Levinson 1978; Sifianou 1992; Yule 1996; Horn and Ward 2006), and (b) the un/certainty avoidance communication style (Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov 2010). The aim is to familiarize learners with the significance of cross-cultural pragmatic awareness and its use in EFL teaching and learning. Analysis of the data is followed by a questionnaire addressing bilingual participants who confirmed the findings of the study. Results show types of pragmatic variation across English and Greek: for instance, the subtitles showed less signs of positive politeness strategies and more uncertainty features, while dubbing manifested more positive politeness strategies and stronger uncertainty avoidance, i.e., in alignment with features of the target language. Findings allow learners to look beyond grammaticality, at the level of pragmatic preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A standard approach to indeterminacy treats 'determinately' and 'indeterminately' as modal operators. Determinacy behaves like necessity; indeterminacy like contingency. This raises two questions. What is the appropriate modal system for these operators? And how should we interpret that system? Ken Akiba has developed an account of ontic indeterminacy that interprets possible worlds as worldly precisifications. He argues that this account vindicates S4 as the logic of indeterminacy. In this paper I explore one significant and surprising consequence of this view. I do this in two stages. First, I prove a technical result, which I call the Infinite Indeterminacy Theorem. Roughly put, this theorem states that, at any given precisification w, either every instance of indeterminacy admits of never-ending higher-order indeterminacy, or else there's indeterminacy in an infinite amount of distinct atomic formulas. In slogan form: either all indeterminacy is infinitely ascending or else there's infinitely wide indeterminacy. Second, I unpack the metaphysical consequences of this technical result (under its intended interpretation) and assess their plausibility. I conclude that these consequences commit Akiba's theory to highly contentious – and arguably untenable – views about the metaphysics of indeterminacy and related matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concept analysis is a useful qualitative research method for psychologists aiming to define, clarify or critique concept meaning and use in theory, practice or research. This article explains Reformative Concept Analysis (RCA), a novel method derived from nursing and political science concept analysis approaches, and reformed for applied psychology research. First, the role of concepts as epistemological vessels in psychological theory and practice is described. Some problems with concept use in clinical practice and research are highlighted, to demonstrate why critical analytic methods to improve concept definition and utility are needed. Then, overviews of some existing concept analysis methods are provided, with summaries of their strengths and limitations from an applied psychology perspective. The importance of comparing and combining meaning frameworks constructed from qualitative narratives and literature review is highlighted. Finally, the eight stages of RCA method are set out, along with some ontological, epistemological, design, rigour and presentation considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of the 19th century corresponds to a period in which different problem areas emerged in the field of physics, characterised as classical or modern physics, which contain different structural features that cannot be explained with the assumptions of Newtonian physics. As a result of the studies carried out to solve these problems, a new type of physics, called "-quantum physics-", emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, based on principles different from those of classical physics. The study of the behaviour of objects in the subatomic universe was the interest of quantum physics. The atom, once regarded as indivisible by Newton, became the object of quantum physics studies, which enabled it to be broken down into smaller parts and thus penetrated. Quantum physics changed the approach of modern physics to the universe, which was based on the assumption that it consisted of fixed and completely isolated fundamental particles, and led to the emergence of the idea that relational processes, not isolation, were dominant among the particles that made up the universe. This physics discovered the existence of new phenomena in the subatomic universe that did not fit the mechanistic-deterministic approach considered characteristic of the macro-universe. The emergence of these discoveries required a radical change in the fundamental concepts of "space", "time", "object", "observer", "measurement", "effect", "locality" and "interaction", which classical physics was based on. This is because the nature of the phenomena that quantum physics draws attention to in the micro-universe does not coincide with the assumptions of classical physics regarding these concepts. This non-overlapping situation is essentially because the phenomena occurring in both fields arise according to different logical schemes. Classical mechanics is based on the fundamental principles of classical logic. However, the phenomena to which quantum physics refers do not conform to the basic principles of classical logic. In this respect, the findings of quantum physics cannot be understood using the structure of thought based on classical logical principles. Today, however, it seems possible to make this interpretation from the perspective of the fuzzy logic paradigm, which puts vagueness, the main focus of quantum physics, on its agenda. Today, the concept of vagueness has been incorporated into the scientific process. Parallel to quantum theory's positioning of vagueness as a principle, fuzzy logic has also integrated vagueness in all knowledge processes and included it in its structure not as a situation to be avoided, but as a situation to be evaluated. In this sense, this study aims to demonstrate that the basic principles of quantum physics, which cannot be adequately described by the classical mode of thought shaped by the principles of classical logic, can instead be depicted from the perspective of fuzzy logic, which has created a significant area of application in the field of engineering, especially in artificial intelligence studies. In this direction, this study first discusses the process that led to the emergence of quantum physics in general and proceeds to present its basic principles based on the views of the Copenhagen School, which has become the standard view of quantum physics. After mentioning that the phenomena outlined by quantum physics cannot be described within the limits of the three basic principles of classical logic, this study presents the fuzzy logic system as it makes such a description possible. Finally, this study attempts to illustrate in which contexts the basic principles of quantum physics can be associated with fuzzy logic theory. As a result of this investigation, this study reiterates that quantum physics can sufficiently be described from the perspective of fuzzy logic. One of the main goals of revealing this relationship is to create an important basis for philosophical activity. Just as Newtonian physics, one of the major developments that determined the paradigm of modern science, was based on classical logic, and in turn, classical logic provided a framework for philosophical ways of thinking influenced by classical physics, revealing the relationship between quantum physics and fuzzy logic will indicate that fuzzy logic can provide a framework for philosophical ways of thinking that will complement quantum physics. In this respect, this study aims to demonstrate that quantum physics and fuzzy logic accompany each other in the scientific realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multidimensional adjectives are ubiquitous in natural language. An adjective $F$ F is multidimensional just in case whether $F$ F applies to an object or pair of objects depends on how those objects stand with respect to multiple underlying dimensions of $F$ F -ness. Developing a semantics for multidimensional adjectives requires us to address the problem of dimensional aggregation: how do the application conditions of an adjective $F$ F in its positive and comparative forms depend on its underlying dimensions? Here we develop a semantics for multidimensional adjectives that incorporates aggregation functions. We then explore an analogy between dimensional aggregation and preference aggregation, bringing results from social choice theory to bear on the number and kind of aggregation functions which are admissible in a context. These results suggest that, for any given adjective, there will often be multiple aggregation functions admissible, meaning that multidimensional comparatives are often vague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by applying a version of Timothy Williamson’s anti-luminosity argument to normative properties. This argument suggests that there must be at least some unknowable normative facts in normative Sorites sequences, or otherwise we get a contradiction given certain plausible assumptions concerning safety requirements on knowledge and our doxastic dispositions. This paper then focuses on the question of how the defenders of different forms of metaethical anti-realism (namely, error theorists, subjectivists, relativists, contextualists, expressivists, response dependence theorists, and constructivists) could respond to the explanatory challenge created by the previous argument. It argues that, with two exceptions, the metaethical anti-realists need not challenge the argument itself, but rather they can find ways to explain how the unknowable normative facts can obtain. These explanations are based on the idea that our own attitudes on which the normative facts are grounded need not be transparent to us either. Reaching this conclusion also illuminates how metaethical anti-realists can make sense of instances of normative vagueness more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teleosemantics has an indeterminacy problem. In an earlier publication, I argued that teleosemanticists may afford to be realists about indeterminacy, pointing to the phenomenon of vagueness as a case of really‐existing semantic indeterminacy. Here, I continue that project by proposing two criteria of adequacy that a semantically indeterminate theory should meet: a criterion of theoretical adequacy and a criterion of extensional adequacy. I present reasons to think that indeterminate versions of teleosemantics can meet these criteria. I end by discussing vagueness, concluding that it most likely is not the same kind of phenomenon as the semantic indeterminacy afflicting teleosemantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides novel theoretical and experimental perspectives on the functioning of linguistic vagueness as an implicit persuasive strategy. It presents an operative definition of pragmatically marked vagueness, referring to vague expressions whose interpretation is not retrievable by recipients. The phenomenon is illustrated via numerous examples of its use in predominantly persuasive texts (i.e., advertising and political propaganda) in different languages. The psycholinguistic functioning of vague expressions is then illustrated by the results of a self-paced reading task experiment. Data showing shorter reading times associated with markedly vague expressions as compared to expressions that are either (a) lexically more precise or (b) made precise by the context suggest that the former are interpreted in a shallow way, without searching for and/or retrieving exact referents. These results support the validity of a differentiation between context-supported vs. non-supported vague expressions. Furthermore, validation of using marked vagueness as a persuasive implicit strategy which reduces epistemic vigilance is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal translation competence includes a high number of sub-competences that legal translation trainees need to master. Therefore, trainers may have no time to tackle issues at the very micro level that are challenging not only for legal translation trainees, but sometimes even for professional translators. Although many such issues are identified in legal translation textbooks, the prevailing holistic approach to teaching legal translation may have led to such issues being sidelined in the legal translation classroom. Drawing on the author’s experience as a legal translation trainer, this paper attempts to fill this vacuum and offer a systematic approach to addressing at least some of these phenomena. A selection of tricky terms will be presented, together with practical activities designed to raise trainees’ awareness of such issues and teach them how to approach them confidently when translating from and to English. Four groups of terms are covered: false friends in general and legal language; vague terms such as good and reasonable; non-transparent terms where complex legal meaning is packed into a simple term (constructive, in lieu of), and enantiosemous terms (apparent, qualified). It is believed that when such phenomena are tackled in isolation, trainees may become better equipped to deal with them successfully the next time they encounter them in an English source text or to use them actively when translating into English.

This article defends Noël Carroll’s incongruity theory of humour from the pressing criticism that his articulation of incongruity is too vague to serve as a key notion of the theory. I first distinguish between two versions of the criticism of vagueness: the claim that Carroll’s notion of incongruity is vacuous, and the claim that it allows for shoehorning. To reject the first claim, I put Carroll’s notion of incongruity to the test by analysing complex comic texts, demonstrating that it is not vacuous as it allows for capturing their similarities and differences. In response to the second claim, I claim that Carroll’s notion of incongruity should be amended adding a pertinence condition, which requires that the elements establishing the incongruity are part of the same context. Finally, I show that the pertinence condition helps Carroll, replying to a set of counterexamples moved to his sufficiency conditions too.

The soft idea has a crucial impact on facing uncertainty, but extending soft, fuzzy soft, and vague soft settings is more comprehensive in expressing the problem ambiguity parameters than the soft set. Despite this advancement, the vague soft set falls short in addressing certain decision-making issues. This occurs when we have some external factors that can impact our final decision. These external factors can be represented in the effective parameter set. So, the objective of the current article is to incorporate the new concept of effectiveness into the concept of vague sets. This approach leads the researchers to create a novel and expanded framework for effective decision-making, surpassing any previously introduced methods in applicability. The article also provides an exploration of the types, concepts, and operations of effective vague soft sets, each illustrated with examples. Furthermore, the study delves into the examination of properties like De Morgan's laws, distributive, commutative, absorption, and associative properties for those new sets. Moreover, the framework of effective vague soft sets is used to develop a decision-making methodology. This technique simplifies the process of determining whether a student meets the requirements for a particular level of education or if a patient has a specific disease, among other applications. Additionally, to clarify the proposed algorithm, a detailed case study representing how to classify students toward specializations is examined in detail. Using matrix processes in this example, in addition to $ Wolfram \; Mathematica^{\circledR} $, not only renders computations simpler and quicker but also results in more precise optimum effective decisions. In the end, a detailed comparison with existing techniques is performed and summed up in a chart to illustrate the difference between them and the present one.

When reasoning about dependence relations, philosophers often rely on gradualist assumptions, according to which abrupt changes in a phenomenon of interest can result only from abrupt changes in the low-level phenomena on which it depends. These assumptions, while strictly correct if the dependence relation in question can be expressed by continuous dynamical equations, should be handled with care: very often the descriptively relevant property of a dynamical system connecting high- and low-level phenomena is not its instantaneous behaviour but its stable fixed points (those in the vicinity of which it spends most of the time, after comparatively short transitory periods), and stable fixed points can change abruptly as a result of infinitesimal changes of the low-level phenomenon. We illustrate this potential gradualist trap by showing that Chalmers' fading qualia argument falls into it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a constructional approach to morphosyntax, this study describes a triclausal construction (a type of anankastic conditional construction) and related constructions in the history of Chinese. It demonstrates that the triclausal construction constitutes a context of morphosyntactic vagueness where category boundaries between modals and conditional protasis connectives are underdetermined; consequently, bidirectional rather than unidirectional developments occur. Morphosyntactic vagueness is defined by properties shared between two morphosyntactic categories: distributional and functional similarities. Therefore, changes enabled by morphosyntactic vagueness are argued to be regular processes of change mediated by grammatical equivalence. If grammaticalization is defined as the development of morphosyntactic categories, but not in terms of non-equivalence such as unidirectionality or increased grammaticality, grammaticalization may be systematically bidirectional when enabled by morphosyntactic vagueness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soft idea has a crucial impact on facing uncertainty, but extending soft, fuzzy soft, and vague soft settings is more comprehensive in expressing the problem ambiguity parameters than the soft set. Despite this advancement, the vague soft set falls short in addressing certain decision-making issues. This occurs when we have some external factors that can impact our final decision. These external factors can be represented in the effective parameter set. So, the objective of the current article is to incorporate the new concept of effectiveness into the concept of vague sets. This approach leads the researchers to create a novel and expanded framework for effective decision-making, surpassing any previously introduced methods in applicability. The article also provides an exploration of the types, concepts, and operations of effective vague soft sets, each illustrated with examples. Furthermore, the study delves into the examination of properties like De Morgan's laws, distributive, commutative, absorption, and associative properties for those new sets. Moreover, the framework of effective vague soft sets is used to develop a decision-making methodology. This technique simplifies the process of determining whether a student meets the requirements for a particular level of education or if a patient has a specific disease, among other applications. Additionally, to clarify the proposed algorithm, a detailed case study representing how to classify students toward specializations is examined in detail. Using matrix processes in this example, in addition to Wol f ram Mathematica®, not only renders computations simpler and quicker but also results in more precise optimum effective decisions. In the end, a detailed comparison with existing techniques is performed and summed up in a chart to illustrate the difference between them and the present one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploration addresses some aspects of Zoroastrianism, examining how the ancient Persian belief system aligns with the dynamic and indeterminate principles of Fuzzy, Neutrosophic, and MultiAlist systems. Zoroastrianism, rooted in the eternal struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, exhibits parallels with Neutrosophy's acknowledgment of indeterminacy, incompleteness, and the dynamic interplay of opposites. The prophet Zarathustra's vision of a neutrosophic God challenges conventional notions of divine attributes, emphasizing a dynamic and evolving universe. Before investigating these vague areas, the concept of unclear conceptual borders is explored, emphasizing the indeterminacy and imprecision inherent in defining opposites or partially opposite concepts. The law of included infinitely-many-middles suggests that between opposites, there exist infinitely many nuances or middle values. Sorites' paradoxes challenge traditional logic by exposing the difficulties in defining vague boundaries. Neutrosophic Interpretation suggests introducing a buffer zone between opposites, resulting in Neutrosophic Sorites Paradoxes. Moreover, this exploration highlights the need for a more flexible and nuanced understanding of conceptual boundaries, acknowledging the dynamic and indeterminate nature of many philosophical and logical constructs. Finally, we delve into the application of neutrosophy to various cultural and philosophical concepts. The legendary figure of Gilgamesh, described as two-thirds god and one-third human, is examined through both traditional and neutrosophic perspectives. Additionally, Hindu concepts of Dharma, Adharma, and Karma are reexamined within the context of neutrosophy. The logic of the Diamond Sutra in Mahayana Buddhism, characterized by paradoxical language and a focus on emptiness, aligns with neutrosophic principles in challenging fixed notions and embracing the interconnected and indeterminate aspects of reality. Despite diverse cultural origins, these examples share a common thread in questioning absolutes and embracing the dynamic nature of existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the semantic values of predicates are, as Williamson assumes (Philsophical Perspectives,13, 505–517, 1999, 509) properties in the intensional sense, then epistemicism is immediate. Epistemicism fails, so also this properties account of predicates. I deploy examination of Williamson's account as a foil against properties as semantic values, showing that his two positive arguments for bivalence fail, as do his efforts to rescue epistemicism from obvious problems. In Part II I argue that, despite the properties account's problems, it has an important role to play in compositional semantics. We may separate the problem of how smallest parts of language get attached to the world from the problem of how those parts compose to form complex semantic values. For the latter problem we idealize and treat the smallest semantic values as properties (and referents). So doing functions to put to one side how the smallest parts get worldly attachment, a problem that would just get in the way of understanding composition. Attachment to the world must be studied separately, and I review some of the options. As a bonus we see why the requirement of higher order vagueness is an artifact of taking properties as semantic values literally instead of as a simplifying idealization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present manuscript, it is our utmost aim and objective to comprehensively and extensively expound upon two highly innovative and remarkably novel information measures that have been adeptly and appropriately extended to encompass fuzzy sets. These measures have undergone a rigorous and meticulous scrutiny and examination with regard to axiomatic principles, and have evinced numerous and manifold advantageous properties, thus providing a compelling and highly persuasive validation of their reliability, credibility, and overall effectiveness. It is of paramount importance to note that the measures in question have been meticulously and painstakingly designed with the express aim and purpose of effectively quantifying the extent of information that is inextricably embedded and enmeshed within fuzzy sets, and are firmly grounded in the foundational and bedrock principles of information theory, which is an indisputably and irrefutably significant and substantial academic discipline. Our contributions to the field of study are truly and incontestably unparalleled, and offer a fresh, innovative, and unprecedented perspective on the study of fuzzy sets and their associated information content, which is of immense and inestimable value to the overall advancement and progress of the academic discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epistemicist theory aims to explain ignorance due to vagueness by semantic plasticity: the shiftiness of intensions across close possible worlds resulting from shiftiness in usage. This explanation is challenged by the Omniscient Speaker Puzzle (Sennet in Philos Stud 161(2):273–285, 2012). Suppose that an omniscient speaker, Barney, who knows all the facts about usage and how these facts determine the intensions of expressions, cooks up a scheme to stabilise the intension of a normally semantically plastic term like ‘rich’. It seems that ‘rich’ would display all the phenomena associated with vagueness without being semantically plastic, thus making the epistemicist explanation of ignorance due to vagueness insufficient. In this paper, I present a few choice points for epistemicism that arise as a result of the puzzle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses the extension of meaning of the word “filter” in its uses in the cyberspace context. Our goal is to analyze its semantic extension by polysemy, considering its use to denote a resource of image manipulation or of entertainment. Methodologically, we analyze the use of “filter” in a news report; the semantic categories studied are vagueness, lexical ambiguity (polysemy) and metaphor. Our investigation shows that: (a) “filter” involves semantic vagueness, both in its accommodation within the context of use, with a relative determinacy, and in its use as a strategic determinacy; (b) “filter” presents characteristics of a logically polysemic expression, verified by the detailing of the telic quale of the word; and (c) the semantic extension of “filter” can also be explained through the metaphorical interpretation and the understanding that we can comprehend one domain of experience in terms of another.

The demand for renewable energy has significantly increased over the last decade with increased attention to the preservation of the environment and sustainable, optimal resource management. As traditional sources of energy production are depleting at an alarming rate and causing long-lasting environmental damage, it is essential to explore green and cost-effective methodologies for meeting energy demand. With each country having different geographical, political, social, and natural factors, the problem arises of which renewable energy should be utilized for optimal resource management. This multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) challenge is tackled by applying a dynamic fuzzy hypersoft set-based Method for the evaluation of currently deployed Renewable Energy systems and providing a decision support system for the installation of new ones based on the factors mentioned above for Turkey. As the installation of new renewable energy projects and the evaluation of old ones is significantly influenced by human judgment, it leaves great room for uncertainty primarily because of the psychological factors of the expert. The novel concept of Fuzzy Hypersoft Sets (FHSs) and their Entropy (EN) and TOPSIS-based operations are first discussed with reference to the problem at hand. The presented structure is superior to the ones in the literature by allowing access to data parameters as sub-parametric values while utilizing the versatility of Fuzzy structures to deal with uncertainty. The technique has great potential to serve as a potential decision support system in any setting. For now, hypothetical expert ratings are used to illustrate the working of the dynamic structure along with a sensitivity analysis to investigate the primary criterion weights in sorting. The evaluation of currently deployed renewable energy systems using our methodology revealed an average improvement in system performance compared to traditional methods. Furthermore, the decision support system for the installation of new projects based on geographical, political, social, and natural factors exhibited a potential increase in overall system efficiency. These numeric outcomes highlight the effectiveness and practical applicability of our approach in optimizing resource management and fostering sustainable energy practices.

My aim in this essay is to shed light on the origins of Peircean vagueness. The intention is therefore primarily historical-philological, exploring the logical-semiotic roots of vagueness. First, I distinguish the two senses in which Peirce treats the notion of vagueness: one referring to the subject, the other to the predicate within a proposition, specifying that I am only concerned here with the first sense of vagueness. Second, I argue that Brock and Chauviré, while attempting to unravel the origins of Peircean vagueness through the notion of the individuum vagum , fail to fully resolve the problem. Third, I expound the medieval theory of suppositio , which concerns the denotation and quantification of the propositional subject. This medieval logical theory aimed to clarify the meaning of indefinite and indeterminate propositions. Fourth, I present textual evidence in which Peirce demonstrates his thorough knowledge of the medieval theory of suppositio , Peter of Spain's theory in particular. In the same section, I highlight a neglected detail within R 530, in which Peirce directly refers to the origins of the notion of vagueness. Finally, I argue that once the quantifiers (existential and universal) were discovered and formalized, Peirce gradually lost interest in the theory of suppositio as a useful tool for clarifying vague (indefinite) and general (indeterminate) propositions, since he had a better logical tool at his disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces partial set-theoretic relations for metasets and investigates their properties. Metaset is a concept of imprecise set designed to represent vague notions in Artificial Intelligence, whose idea stems from Boolean-valued techniques in classical set theory. The basic set relations are extended to functions valued in a Boolean algebra or unit interval. Important classical set theory axioms: extensionality and comprehension are formulated for metasets. The latter enables formal definitions of collections with blurred boundaries by using set-theory formulae. This facilitates representing and reasoning about imprecise data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social ontologists commonly think that our ideas about social entities, and about other people also inhabiting the social realm, play an important role in making those entities into what they are. At the same time, we know that our ideas are often indeterminate in character, which presumably would mean that this indeterminacy should carry over to the social realm. And yet social indeterminacy is a neglected topic in social ontology. It is argued that this neglect can be traced to how a particular approach that favors ahistorical reconstructions in making sense of social entities has come to dominate social ontology. If we think beyond the parameters set by this approach, however, we can see that recognizing indeterminacy as a pervasive phenomenon in the social realm might open up new interpretative possibilities in relation to different social categories. This argument is at least partly in line with recent calls for a move towards nonideal social ontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses the extension of the meaning of the word "filter" in its uses in the cyberspace context. Our goal is to analyze its semantic extension by polysemy, considering its use to denote a resource of image manipulation or entertainment. Methodologically, we analyze the use of "filter" in a news report; the semantic categories studied are vagueness, lexical ambiguity (polysemy), and metaphor. Our investigation shows that: (a) "filter" involves semantic vagueness, both in its accommodation within the context of use, with a relative determinacy, and in its use as a strategic determinacy; (b) "filter" presents characteristics of a logically polysemic expression, verified by the detailing of the telic quale of the word; and (c) the semantic extension of "filter" can also be explained through the metaphorical interpretation and the understanding that we can comprehend one domain of experience in terms of another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research study specifically covers the comparative analytical study of the articles of the Constitution of Pakistan and India which are relevant with the President with main focus on the Constitutional drawbacks, vagueness in the relevant articles which may cause Constitutional crisis at any time. In this regard comparative analysis of the articles of the Constitution of Pakistan and India has been given. To conduct this research qualitative doctrinal methodology has been applied and utilized data collection methods such as review of relevant documents constitutional provisions and case laws. Through this method this researcher reached on a conclusion and proposed solutions to address the vagueness in the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan. From this research it appeared that on many issues Constitution of Pakistan is silent and some articles are vague in language need amendment and interpretation therefore there is need of amendment and interpretation in such articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article defends the existence of borderline consciousness. In borderline consciousness, conscious experience is neither determinately present nor determinately absent, but rather somewhere between. The argument in brief is this. In considering what types of systems are conscious, we face a quadrilemma. Either nothing is conscious, or everything is conscious, or there's a sharp boundary across the apparent continuum between conscious systems and nonconscious ones, or consciousness is a vague property admitting indeterminate cases. Assuming mainstream naturalism about consciousness, we ought to reject the first three options, which forces us to the fourth, indeterminacy. Standard objections to the existence of borderline consciousness turn on the inconceivability of borderline cases. However, borderline cases are only inconceivable by an inappropriately demanding standard of conceivability. I conclude with some plausible cases and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privacy policies are the main method for informing Internet users of how their data are collected and shared. This study aims to analyze the deficiencies of privacy policies in terms of readability, vague statements, and the use of pacifying phrases concerning privacy. This represents the undertaking of a step forward in the literature on this topic through a comprehensive analysis encompassing both time and website coverage. It characterizes trends across website categories, top-level domains, and popularity ranks. Furthermore, studying the development in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) offers insights into the impact of regulations on policy comprehensibility. The findings reveal a concerning trend: privacy policies have grown longer and more ambiguous, making it challenging for users to comprehend them. Notably, there is an increased proportion of vague statements, while clear statements have seen a decrease. Despite this, the study highlights a steady rise in the inclusion of reassuring statements aimed at alleviating readers' privacy concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In philosophical discourse, vagueness is commonly regarded as an undesirable and problematic aspect of human experience. Such standpoints are not unfounded. However, in this article, I argue that vagueness may in certain instances also possess an instrumental role that supports specific modes of human aspiration, including the artistic and the mathematical. In particular, I investigate the ways in which vagueness not only hinders but also fosters the emergence of an aesthetic quality of experience during the imaginative endeavours of fine art and mathematics. The manner in which the benefit from felt vagueness ties into the formation of artistic and mathematical scenarios helps to illuminate deep and often unnoticed relations between these two domains of human ingenuity. In this article, the overall concept of experience and the particular features of human experience, such as the aesthetic and the vague, are examined in the context of John Dewey’s philosophical pragmatism. In Dewey’s philosophical framework, the human mind and culture are understood as natural phenomena. As such, the Deweyan approach fits the paradigm of a twenty-first century scientific understanding of the inherent ontological unity of all modes of human existence and activity.

Why is ordinary language vague? We argue that in contexts in which a cooperative speaker is not perfectly informed about the world, the use of vague expressions can offer an optimal tradeoff between truthfulness (Gricean Quality) and informativeness (Gricean Quantity). Focusing on expressions of approximation such as "around", which are semantically vague, we show that they allow the speaker to convey indirect probabilistic information, in a way that can give the listener a more accurate representation of the information available to the speaker than any more precise expression would (intervals of the form "between"). That is, vague sentences can be more informative than their precise counterparts. We give a probabilistic treatment of the interpretation of "around", and offer a model for the interpretation and use of "around"-statements within the Rational Speech Act (RSA) framework. In our account the shape of the speaker's distribution matters in ways not predicted by the Lexical Uncertainty model standardly used in the RSA framework for vague predicates. We use our approach to draw further lessons concerning the semantic flexibility of vague expressions and their irreducibility to more precise meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]