Heapness, Homogeneity, and an Asymptotic Reconstruction of the Sorites Paradox
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866901962261266432 |
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| author | Ignatov, Boril |
| author_facet | Ignatov, Boril |
| contents | <p><span>Rather than offering another general semantics for vagueness, this paper argues that</span><br><span>the Sorites paradox of the heap is partly misframed when treated solely as a search</span><br><span>for a sharp finite cutoff. It develops a structural and asymptotic account of heapness</span><br><span>that distinguishes ordinary finite heaphood from maximal heapness as an ideal of</span><br><span>completion. On the positive side, a heap is characterized not by stepwise addition</span><br><span>alone but by aggregation, contiguity, partial occlusion, permutation tolerance, and</span><br><span>evaluation at a relevant sortal level of individuation. Homogeneity is not required</span><br><span>for heaphood</span> <span>simpliciter</span><span>, though it is central to the identity of a pure heap</span> <span>of</span><br><span>a specified kind</span><span>. On the critical side, familiar responses to the Sorites paradox—</span><br><span>including sharp-boundary views, epistemicism, supervaluationism, and contextualist</span><br><span>approaches—manage borderline predication more directly than the tacit completion</span><br><span>demand that gives the paradox its strongest form. The paper also argues that mere</span><br><span>scatteredness is insufficient for heaphood and that regress to ever smaller constituents</span><br><span>trivializes the issue unless the relevant sortal level is fixed. The conclusion is not</span><br><span>eliminativism about finite heaps but a reframing of the paradox: what fails is the</span><br><span>expectation that maximal heapness must appear at some privileged finite stage.</span></p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_19521114 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | Heapness, Homogeneity, and an Asymptotic Reconstruction of the Sorites Paradox Ignatov, Boril vagueness Sorites paradox vague predicates Sortal concepts Philosophical logic Metaphysics <p><span>Rather than offering another general semantics for vagueness, this paper argues that</span><br><span>the Sorites paradox of the heap is partly misframed when treated solely as a search</span><br><span>for a sharp finite cutoff. It develops a structural and asymptotic account of heapness</span><br><span>that distinguishes ordinary finite heaphood from maximal heapness as an ideal of</span><br><span>completion. On the positive side, a heap is characterized not by stepwise addition</span><br><span>alone but by aggregation, contiguity, partial occlusion, permutation tolerance, and</span><br><span>evaluation at a relevant sortal level of individuation. Homogeneity is not required</span><br><span>for heaphood</span> <span>simpliciter</span><span>, though it is central to the identity of a pure heap</span> <span>of</span><br><span>a specified kind</span><span>. On the critical side, familiar responses to the Sorites paradox—</span><br><span>including sharp-boundary views, epistemicism, supervaluationism, and contextualist</span><br><span>approaches—manage borderline predication more directly than the tacit completion</span><br><span>demand that gives the paradox its strongest form. The paper also argues that mere</span><br><span>scatteredness is insufficient for heaphood and that regress to ever smaller constituents</span><br><span>trivializes the issue unless the relevant sortal level is fixed. The conclusion is not</span><br><span>eliminativism about finite heaps but a reframing of the paradox: what fails is the</span><br><span>expectation that maximal heapness must appear at some privileged finite stage.</span></p> |
| title | Heapness, Homogeneity, and an Asymptotic Reconstruction of the Sorites Paradox |
| topic | vagueness Sorites paradox vague predicates Sortal concepts Philosophical logic Metaphysics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19521114 |