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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2023
This chapter presents what I call the meaning-tracks-use argument for the gradualist hypothesis: (1) If the vast majority of competent language users frequently and sincerely use RIGHT and WRONG as gradable concepts, then RIGHT and WRONG are gradable concepts. (2) The antecedent of the first premise is true. (3) Therefore, RIGHT and WRONG are gradable concepts. To support the empirical part of the argument I use the tools of experimental philosophy. Results from three surveys (n = 715, 578, and 182) indicate that respondents use right and wrong as gradable terms to approximately the same extent as color terms, meaning that rightness and wrongness come in degrees roughly as much as colors do. In the largest study, only four percent persistently used right and wrong as non-gradable terms.
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