Sources of Vagueness
Uncertainty
Uncertainty
- Knowledge of possible states but blindness, inference, or prediction of current state (probability)
Definitions
Indeterminism
- incomplete definitions, undefined cases
Semantics
Granular Meaning
- partial truth applied to referent objects and statements (fuzzy sets and many-valued truth) Unstable Meaning
- Multiple interpretations can be made from same statement, meaning assigned by listener
Epistemology
Inexact Knowledge
- Acquisition of knowledge without precise parameters. Mostly ignorance: gist, sensory perception, and memory. Beings only contain a fraction of the universe of knowledge. Inexact representations of knowledge and inexact observations of the universe. Impressions don’t make precise definitions of knowledge. Vague statements come from our inexact knowledge