sorites

Also found in: Wikipedia.

so·ri·tes

(sə-rī′tēz, sô-) Logic

n. pl. sorites

1. An argument presenting a series of premises that can be analyzed as a chain of syllogisms, with each syllogism's major term forming the minor term of the next, until a final conclusion is attained. For example, a sorites might consist of the premises that some pets are snakes, that no snakes have fur, and that only furry things are cuddly, yielding the conclusion that not all pets are cuddly.

2. An argument exploiting the imprecision of everyday language to reach a paradoxical conclusion. The classic argument of this sort maintains that one grain of sand does not make a heap and that adding a single grain of sand to something that is not a heap does not make a heap, yielding the conclusion that no additional amount of sand can make a heap.

adj.

Of or relating to a sorites: a sorites paradox.

[Latin sōrītēs, from Greek sōreitēs, from sōros, heap; see teuə- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sorites

(sɒˈraɪtiːz)

(Logic) logic

a. a polysyllogism in which the premises are arranged so that intermediate conclusions are omitted, being understood, and only the final conclusion is stated

b. a paradox of the form: these few grains of sand do not constitute a heap, and the addition of a single grain never makes what is not yet a heap into a heap: so no matter how many single grains one adds it never becomes a heap.

[C16: via Latin from Greek sōreitēs, literally: heaped, from sōros a heap]

soritical, soˈritic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sor•i•tes

(sɔˈraɪ tiz, soʊ-)

n.

a form of argument having several premises and one conclusion, capable of being resolved into a chain of syllogisms, the conclusion of each of which is a premise of the next.

[1545–55; < Latin sōrītēs < Greek sōreítēs, derivative of sōrós a heap]

sorites

an elliptical series of syllogism, in which the premises are so arranged that the predicate of the first is the subject of the next, continuing thus until the subject of the first is united with the predicate of the last. — soritical, soritic, adj.

Sorites

a heap or series of propositions; a heap or pile.

Examples: sorites of flaming anthracite, 1871; sorites of facts, 1875; sorites of observances, 1664; song sorites of sciences and tongues, 1670.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

In the poem just mentioned, the second stanza has moved this theme elsewhere: "We lop the moon, invoking hazard's sorites / our sorties through the orient gates." I link the "orient" of those (Blakean) gates "where we slither out of time" to aspects of esoteric Sufism, as laid out in Henry Corbin s work.

"How to manage the heat": On Gerrit Lansing

Access, Phenomenology and Sorites, MIGUEL ANGEL SEBASTLAN

RATIO: Vol. 631 No. 3, September 2018

Talabi's The Regression Test, published in 2017 by the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and later the Manchester Review, tells a science-fiction story of a 116-year-old woman, Tililope Ajimobe, who is subjected to a sorites regression test designed to determine if an artificial intelligence created by extrapolating and context-optimising recorded versions of a particular human thought patterns has deviated from the way the original person would think.

Talabi and Onyebuchi bag 2018 Nommo Awards

The next piece of advice has been also attributed to him: if you are confronted with a forced march sorites series, stop answering questions while you still know the answers.

THE QUIETIST'S GAMBIT

One might be convinced by the sorites argument that eliminativism about ordinary objects is the correct position and, thus, not worry that belief in modally fine-grained objects lends further support to eliminativism.

ORDINARY OBJECTS ARE NONMODAL OBJECTS

Thus, the temporal dimension of possession is simply another continuum, or sorites, problem to be contextually resolved.

RECONCILING COMPETING SYSTEMS OF PROPERTY RIGHTS THROUGH ADVERSE POSSESSION

Logicians' convention: A site for sorites. Remedy for travelers' diarrhea: Turista Traction.

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE PUN: "Selected Shorts" from 17 Years of Wordplay Articles

In some cases, the distinction between a population subgroup to be a different species, or not, is unclear, as in the Sorites Paradoxes in the frame of neutrosophy: the frontier between <A> (where <A> can be a species, a genus, or a family), and <nonA> (which means that is not <A>) is vague.

Introducing a theory of neutrosophic evolution: degrees of evolution, indeterminacy, and involution

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russian warplanes conducted some 500 sorites hitting 2,000 ISIL targets on March 7-27, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation said Thursday.

Russian Jets Conduct Some 500 Sorties from March 7-27, Hit 2,000 ISIL Targets

But, since in many cases the borders between notions are vague, imprecise, Sorites, it is possible that <A>, <neutA>, <antiA> (and <nonA>, of course) have common parts two by two, or even all three of them as well.