Description
Book SynopsisOver recent years, the psychology of concepts has been rejuvenated by new work on prototypes, inventive ideas on causal cognition, the development of neo-empiricist theories of concepts, and the inputs of the budding neuropsychology of concepts. But our empirical knowledge about concepts has yet to be organized in a coherent framework.In Doing without Concepts, Edouard Machery argues that the dominant psychological theories of concepts fail to provide such a framework and that drastic conceptual changes are required to make sense of the research on concepts in psychology and neuropsychology. Machery shows that the class of concepts divides into several distinct kinds that have little in common with one another and that for this very reason, it is a mistake to attempt to encompass all known phenomena within a single theory of concepts. In brief, concepts are not a natural kind. Machery concludes that the theoretical notion of concept should be eliminated from the theoretical apparatus o
Trade ReviewEven if one is not convinced by Machery's idea that concepts are not natural kinds, and that'concept' needs to be eliminated from the vocabulary of psychology, Doing without Concepts might still be taken as convincingly showing that in their search for the properties common to most or all concepts, psychologists have been looking in the wrong place. * André J. Abath, The Psychological Quarterly Vol 62 No 244 July 2011 *
Table of ContentsList of Figures ; List of Tables ; Preface ; Acknowledgments ; Permissions ; Chapter 1. Concepts in Psychology ; 1. "Concept" in Psychology ; 2. Evidence for the Existence of Concepts ; 3. What is a Psychological Theory of Concepts? ; 4. Alternative Characterizations of the Notion of Concept ; Chapter 2. Concepts in Philosophy ; 1. "Concept" in Philosophy ; 2. Concepts in Philosophy versus Concepts in Psychology ; 3. How are the Psychological and the Philosophical Theories of Concepts Connected? Peacocke's Simple Account ; 4. How are the Psychological and the Philosophical Theories of Concepts Connected? The Foundationalist Account ; Chapter 3. The Heterogeneity Hypothesis ; 1. The Received View ; 2. The Heterogeneity Hypothesis ; 3. Hybrid Theories of Concepts ; Chapter 4. Three Fundamental Kinds of Concepts: Prototypes, Exemplars, Theories ; 1. The Classical Theory of concepts ; 2. The Prototype Paradigm of Concepts ; 3. The Exemplar Paradigm of Concepts ; 4. The Theory Paradigm of Concepts ; 5. Alternative Views of Concepts ; 6. Three Theoretical Entities that Have Little in Common ; Chapter 5. Multi-Process Theories ; 1. Multi-Process Theories ; 2. Examples of Multi-Process Theories ; Chapter 6. Categorization and Concept Learning ; 1. Categorization and Concept Learning ; 2. Studying Categorization and Concept Learning ; 3. Evidence for the Existence of Prototypes ; 4. Evidence for the Existence of Exemplars ; 5. Evidence for the Existence of Theories ; 6. Organization of the Categorization Processes and of the Concept Learning Processes ; Chapter 7. Induction, Concept Combination, Neuropsychology ; 1. Induction ; 2. Concept Combination ; 3. Neuropsychology ; Chapter 8. Concept Eliminativism ; 1. Two Inconclusive Arguments against the Notion of Concept ; 2. Natural Kinds and Scientific Eliminativism ; 3. The Argument for the Elimination of "Concept" ; 4. Objections and Replies ; Conclusion ; References ; Index of Names ; Index of Subjects
