
Not Exactly
In Praise of Vagueness
Kees van Deemter(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 28. January 2010
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-0-19-954590-2 (ISBN)
Description
Not everything is black and white. Our daily lives are full of vagueness or fuzziness. Language is the most obvious example - for instance, when we describe someone as tall, it is as though there is a particular height beyond which a person can be considered 'tall'. Likewise the terms 'blond' or 'overweight' in common usage. We often think in discontinuous categories when we are considering something continuous. In this book, van Deemter cuts across various disciplines in considering the nature and importance of vagueness. He looks at the principles of measurement, and how we choose categories; the vagueness lurking behind what seems at first sight crisp concepts such as that of the biological 'species'; uncertainties in grammar and the impact of vagueness on the programmes of Chomsky and Montague; vagueness and mathematical logic; computers, vague descriptions, and Natural Language Generation in AI (a new class of programs will allow computers to handle descriptions such as 'the man in the yellow shirt').
Van Deemter shows why vagueness is in various circumstances both unavoidable and useful, and how we are increasingly able to handle fuzziness in mathematical logic and computer science.
Van Deemter shows why vagueness is in various circumstances both unavoidable and useful, and how we are increasingly able to handle fuzziness in mathematical logic and computer science.
Reviews / Votes
Amusing, persuasive. conversational and engaging. John Gilbey, Times Higher Education Supplement Engaging and approachable book. John Gilbey, Times Higher Education SupplementMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Illustrations
20 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
704 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-954590-2 (9780199545902)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
05/2012
Oxford University Press
€19.80
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
01/2010
1st Edition
OUP Oxford
€33.69
Available for download
Person
Kees van Deemter is a Reader in Computing Science at the University of Aberdeen. He works in computational linguistics, the area of artificial intelligence where computer science meets linguistics and his main areas of expertise are computational semantics and natural language generation. He has previously authored 90 research publications in philosophical logic, artificial intelligence and computational linguistics.
Content
Prologue ; PART 1: VAGUENESS, WHERE ONE LEASTS EXPECTS IT ; 1. Introduction: False Clarity ; 2. Sex and similarity: on the Fiction of Species ; 3. Measurements that Matter ; 4. Identity and Gradual Change ; 5. Vagueness in Numbers and Maths ; PART II: THEORIES OF VAGUENESS ; 6. The Linguistics of Vagueness ; 7. Reasoning with Vague Information ; 8. Parrying a Paradox ; 9. Degrees of Truth ; PART III: WORKING MODELS OF VAGUENESS ; 10. Artificial Intelligence ; 11. When to be Vague: Computers as Authors ; 12. The Explusion from Boole's Paradise ; Epilogue: In the Antiques Shop ; Endnotes ; Further Reading ; Bibliography