Vagueness: a problem for AI

Kees van Deemter

University of Aberdeen

Scotland, UK

Overview

1. Meaning: the received view

2. Vague expressions in NL

3. Why vagueness?a. vague objects

b. vague classes

c. vague properties

4. Vagueness and context

Overview (ctd.)

5. Models of vaguenessa. Classical models/epistemicismb. Partial Logic c. Context-based modelsd. Fuzzy Logice. Probabilistic models

6. Generating vague descriptions• Natural Language Generation

7. Project: advertising real estate

The plan

• The lectures will give you a broad overview of some of the key concepts and issues to do with vagueness– Lots of theory (very briefly of course)– Some simple/amusing examples

• The project will let you apply some of these concepts practically

• The project gives you a lot of freedom: you can do it in your own way!

Not Exactly:In Praise of Vagueness

Oxford University Press To appear, 2009