The phenomenal, chromatic and identity sorites: genuine paradoxes or misdirection tricks?

Authors

Emerson Carlos Valcarenghi Universidade Federal do Piauí https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8934-6061

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18012/arf.v12i2.73616

Keywords:

The Phenomenal Sorites, The Chromatic Sorites, The Identity Sorites, Pseudosorites

Abstract

We will show that the phenomenal, chromatic, and identity sorites are not genuine paradoxical arguments but sophisticated diversionary tricks. We will show that the alleged soritic arguments conceal information that is essential to the evaluation of these arguments. Because of this, the perplexity faced by individuals who encounter the alleged sorites is not that generated by the genuine paradoxes, but is merely the product of a maneuver that causes them to slide, without stopping, into the bizarre conclusions of those arguments.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Emerson Carlos Valcarenghi, Universidade Federal do Piauí

Doutorado em Filosofia pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (2004) e Pós-doutorado em Filosofia pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (2010). Professor da Universidade Federal do Piauí.

References

BERKELEY, G. Principles of human knowledge and three dialogues. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

CHIBENI, S. S. What is ontic vagueness?. Filosofia Unisinos, v. 25, n. 3, p. 1-11, 2024.

DUMMETT, M. Wang’s paradox. Synthese, v. 30, p. 301-324, 1975.

GALLOIS, A. Identity over time. In: ZALTA, E. N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Disponível em: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/identity-time/. Acesso em: 08/11/2024, 2016.

GRAFF, D. Phenomenal continua and the sorites. Mind, v. 110, n. 440, p. 905-935, 2001.

HYDE, D. The sorites paradox. In: RONZITTI, G. (ed.). Vagueness: a guide. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London and New York: Springer. p. 1-18, 2011.

PEACOCKE, C. 1981. Are vague predicates incoherent?. Synthese, v. 46, n. 1, p. 121-141, 1981.

PRIEST, G. A site for sorites. In: BEALL, J. C. (ed.), Liars and heaps: new essays on paradox. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 9-23, 2003.

PRIEST, G. Sorites and identity. Logique et Analyse, v. 34, n. 135/136, p. 293-296, 1991.

QUINE, W. V. O. The ways of paradox and other essays. New York: Randon House, 1966.

RAFFMAN, D. Vagueness and observationality. In: RONZITTI, G. (ed.). Vagueness: a guide. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London and New York: Springer. p. 107-121, 2011.

RAFFMAN, D. Vagueness without paradox. The Philosophical Review, v. 103, n. 1, p. 41-74, 1994.

RONZITTI, G (ed.). Vagueness: a guide. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London and New York: Springer, 2011.

SAINSBURY, M. Lessons for vagueness from scrambled sorites. Metaphysica, v. 14, n. 2, p. 225-237, 2013.

SAINSBURY, R. M. Paradoxes. 3ª ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

SANFORD, D. H. Vague numbers. Acta Analytica, v. 17, n. 29, p. 63-73, 2002.

SANFORD, D. H. Infinity and vagueness. The Philosophical Review, v. 84, n. 4, p. 520-535, 1975.

SHAPIRO, S. Vagueness and conversation. In: BEALL, J. C. (edit.). Liars and heaps: new essays on paradox. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 39-72, 2003.

SORENSEN, R. Vagueness. In: ZALTA, E. N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Disponível em: <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/vagueness/>. Acesso em 20/09/2024, 2022.

SORENSEN, R. A. Vagueness and contradiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

UNGER, P. There are no ordinary things. Synthese, v. 41, p. 117-154, 1979.

VALCARENGHI, E. C. Sorensen sobre a vaguidade e o sorites. Veritas, v. 68, n. 1, p. e44897, 2023.

VALCARENGHI, E. C. A resolução do paradoxo do teste surpresa. Aufklärung, v. 9, n. 1, p. 11-42, 2022.

VARZI, A. Cut-offs and their neighbors. In: BEALL, J. C. (ed.), Liars and heaps: new essays on paradox. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 24-38, 2003.

WRIGHT, C. Language-mastery and the sorites paradox. In: KEEFE, R.; SMITH, P. (eds.). Vagueness: a reader. Massachusetts: MIT Press, p. 151-173, 1996.

WRIGHT, C. The epistemic conception of vagueness. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. XXXIII, supplement, p. 133-159, 1994.

WILLIAMSON, T. Identity and Discrimination, revised ed., Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2013.

WILLIAMSON, T. Vagueness. London and New York: Routledge (reimp. em 2001), 1994.

Additional Files

PDF (Português (Brasil))

Published

2025-08-19

How to Cite

Valcarenghi, E. C. (2025). The phenomenal, chromatic and identity sorites: genuine paradoxes or misdirection tricks? . Aufklärung, 12(2), p.63–92. https://doi.org/10.18012/arf.v12i2.73616

Download Citation

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Journal general policy

1.This journal works under a Creative Commons License aplied to online journals. That icence can be read in the following link: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

2.Accordingly to this License, a)the journal declares that authors hold the copyright of their articles without restrictions, and they can archieve them as post-print elsewhere. b)the journal allow the author(s) to retain publishing rights without restrictions.

Metadata Policy for information describing items in the repository

1. Anyone may access the metadata free of charge at anytime.
2.The metadata may be re-used in any medium without prior permission, even commercial purposes provided the OAI Identifier or a link to the original metadata record are given, under the terms of a CC BY license refered for the Journal.