Shiman Luo
Central European University
One or two grains do not make a heap, but 10200 grains certainly do make a heap. If we assume the process of collecting grains to be not gappy, then the collection must become a heap at some stage of the process. However, it seems plausible to think that if some grains do not make a heap, adding one more to the pile will not make a significant difference. In other words, one grain does not make a non-heap a heap.
In this paper, I reinterpret the sorites paradox as raising the following question: if we consider the process of adding grains to a non-heap until it becomes a heap, where does this process end? At first glance, one might assume that this process would eventually reach a finite endpoint. However, as we continue to add grains, the number required to form a heap seems to approach infinity. Call this “the infinity dilemma.”
I show that the dilemma suggests a so far ignored solution to the sorites argument, or so I shall argue in this paper. My proposed solution will be an epistemicist view, according to which there really exist sharp boundaries between heaps and non-heaps, whose precise locations remain unknown to us human beings. However, as we will see, it says more than the usual epistemicist accounts. Finally, I compare my solution to a non-epistemicist view which also retains classical logic.
Chair: Horia Lixandru
Time: September 13th, 10:00 – 10:30
Location: SR 1.005, online
SOPhiA 2026 