Dear all,
There will be a one-day workshop on Semantic Indecision next week on Thursday. Anyone
interested is cordially invited to attend. The schedule, including titles and abstracts,
is below.
Best,
Max.
KiC Workshop on Semantic Indecision
5 March 2026
Room 3A, NIG, Universitätsstr 7, 3rd floor
10–11.15 Bryan Pickel, Glasgow: "Immanent Interpretation”
11.30–12.45 Emelia Stanley, Vienna: "Formalising Open Texture"
lunch
14.15–15.30 Richard Lawrence, Vienna: "Sharp definitions of concepts and the chaos of
experience"
15.45–17.00 Max Kölbel, Vienna: “A Conservative Approach to Semantic Indeterminacy”
17.15–18.30 John MacFarlane, Berkeley: TBA
Bryan Pickel, University of Glasgow (joint work with Derek Ball, University of St
Andrews):
"Immanent Interpretation”
Abstract: Famous arguments purport to show that all, or a substantial fragment, of
language is indeterminate in meaning. According to these arguments, if a speaker uses a
sentence to express a proposition in a context, then an interpreter must (in principle at
least) have more evidence favouring this proposition as the correct interpretation rather
than rival interpretations. These arguments appeal to the claim that the interpreter or
audience does not have sufficient evidence favouring one interpretation over its rivals.
We show that these arguments fail because they ignore evidence that is available to
interpreters – evidence that arises from the interpreters themselves as language users.
But, our aim is not merely to rebut indeterminacy arguments. We construct a research
strategy—immanent interpretation—for interpreters to meet the concerns of the proponents
of indeterminacy arguments. We conclude by discussing important limitations on immanent
interpretation.
Emelia Stanley, University of Vienna:
"Formalising Open Texture"
Abstract: Waismann’s (1947) notion of open texture captures a species of (non‐sorietal)
semantic‐ and truth‐vagueness: that a concept can both apply and disapply to some given
case, within a context of application. Noting that open texture resists characterisation
in a classical framework, I present an original formalisation the notion. Using this model
I then conjecture, contra Waismann, that open‐texture does not only occur in mathematics,
but that it plays an indispensable role in characterising its epistemology, and
particularly its resolution strategies for crises of non‐trivial disagreement.
Richard Lawrence, University of Vienna:
"Sharp definitions of concepts and the chaos of experience"
Abstract: Frege insists that, for logical purposes, concepts must be
sharply defined, and this assumption is now deeply embedded in our
contemporary approaches to semantics. Yet we have lost track of one of
the background assumptions of classical German philosophy which was part
of Frege's reason for that insistence: the idea that experience is
initially an unstructured chaos, on which we must impose structure by
actively seeking to grasp concepts in thought. I will argue that this
background played an important role in some of Frege's semantic ideas,
and that it is worth revisiting as we try to characterize phenomena like
vagueness.
Max Kölbel, University of Vienna:
“A Conservative Approach to Semantic Indeterminacy”
Abstract: So-called "felicitous underspecification" seems to be ubiquitous.
Nevertheless communication succeeds effortlessly. A number of theorists (e.g. Viebahn,
MacFarlane, King and others) have made proposals as to how semanticists should model this
phenomenon. Some have proposed new-fangled semantic contents to do justice to the
phenomenon. Others have offered pragmatic explanations of communicative success. In this
talk, I want to draw attention to a third, more conservative approach that can at least in
some cases be employed to explain what is going on.
John MacFarlane, University of California at Berkeley:
TBA