| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
My research resulted in three submissions to international peer-reviewed journals. (1) “Vagueness and probability” and was accepted for publication by the international peer-reviewed Philosophy journal Synthese. (2) “Why there is no vagueness (in the Russellian sense)” and is under review with the same international peer-reviewed journal. (3) “Maximisation, competiveness, and the structure of value relations” and is under review with the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. I have furthermore started a new editorial project with the title Vagueness and Rationality: Trends in Current Research on Rationality in Vague Language Use. It will appear as a volume in the new series Language, Cognition and Mind that is published by Springer (Berlin).
I presented the following talks on my JSPS research project: “Confirmation and aboutness” (Language & Reality, UTokyo, Jun 25), “Natural Language semantics of gradability and value theory” (Hiroshima University, July 5), “Gradability, vagueness, and parity” (Tokyo Forum for Analytic Philosophy, UTokyo, July 15), “Notes on delineationism” (Conference for Contemporary Philosophy in East Asia, Seoul National University, August 20), “Gradability, vagueness, and parity” (SOCREAL, Hokkaido University, October 30), “Gradability, vagueness, and parity” (Semantics Research Group, Keio University, December 9), “Maximisation, competitiveness, and the structure of value relations” (Department of Philosophy, University of Hamburg, March 16).
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
My research on this project resulted in the academic year 2016-7 in three submissions to peer-reviewed journals. The first submission “Vagueness and probability” offers a state-of-the-arts report and evaluation on the previous discussion of vagueness and probability. This paper has been accepted for publication in the journal Synthese. In my submitted paper “Why there is no vagueness (in the Russellian vagueness)” (long version: ~ 37,000 words; short version: ~ 20,000 words), I develop a new philosophical account of the paradox of vagueness from the perspective of rational decision-making. In this paper, I argue present and defend the thesis that the notion of vagueness in its full-fledged philosophical sense, is a theoretical artifact that should be revised a more realistic, praxis-oriented notion---which is not susceptible to paradox. In my third submitted paper “Maximisation, competiveness, and the structure of value relations”, I study the structural implications of vagueness for decision-making. In this paper, I give a new unified account of two problems of choiceworthiness: for one the problem of maximization (how to choose rationally between options if evaluative comparisons of their `goodness’ involve vagueness?); for another, the problem of competiveness (how to choose rationally between options if we are uncertain about their outcomes?). I present and defend the view that depending on whether we adopt a scare substantive or an abundant derivative notion of value relations, different answers are suggested.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In the coming year, I plan to study more deeply questions of the nature of vagueness, with special reference to vagueness in decision-making. Specifically, I will compare two different major accounts of vagueness: for one, the representational view, according to which practical vagueness is purely semantic or epistemic in nature; for another, the ontological view, according to which practical vagueness is due to the sort of problems vague practical questions are about. My plan is to level new arguments in support of the ontological approach to practical vagueness. Apart from various conferences/workshop events in and outside Japan (to be confirmed later), I plan to make short-termed research visits to the following the universities in Israel, Germany, and Norway: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Luka Zrnic) and Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv (Galit Weidman-Sassoon); the University of Hamburg (Benjamin Schnieder and Moritz Schultz); and the University of Tromso (Michael Morreau). Further research visits, which are still to be confirmed, are intended for the Sorbonne in Paris (Igor Douven) and the London School of Economics (Anna Mahtani & Wlodek Rabinowicz).
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| Causes of Carryover |
Apart from various conferences/workshop events in and outside Japan (to be confirmed later), I plan to make short-termed research visits to the following the universities in Israel, Germany, and Norway: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Luka Zrnic) and Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv (Galit Weidman-Sassoon); the University of Hamburg (Benjamin Schnieder and Moritz Schultz); and the University of Tromso (Michael Morreau). Further research visits, which are still to be confirmed, are intended for the Sorbonne in Paris (Igor Douven) and the London School of Economics (Anna Mahtani & Wlodek Rabinowicz).
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