Scientific Concepts as Forward-Looking: How Taxonomic Structure Facilitates Conceptual Development.
This paper examines the interplay between conceptual structure and the evolution of scientific concepts, arguing that concepts are fundamentally 'forward-looking' constructs. Drawing on empirical studies of similarity and categorization, I explicate the way in which the conceptual taxonomy highlight...
| Publicado en: | Journal of the Philosophy of History Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 205 - 232 |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Brill Academic Publishers
2020
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | This paper examines the interplay between conceptual structure and the evolution of scientific concepts, arguing that concepts are fundamentally 'forward-looking' constructs. Drawing on empirical studies of similarity and categorization, I explicate the way in which the conceptual taxonomy highlights the 'relevant respects' for similarity judgments involved in categorization. I then propose that this taxonomy provides some of the cognitive underpinnings of the ongoing development of scientific concepts. I use the concept SYNAPSE to illustrate my proposal, showing how conceptual taxonomy both facilitates and constrains the accommodation of newly discovered phenomena. I end by briefly considering the implications of the proposed approach for a normative evaluation of scientific concepts. |
|---|