Questions tagged [concept]
The concept tag has no usage guidance.
95
questions
3
votes
1
answer
90
views
Is the classical theory of concepts compatible with logical positivism's view on analyticity of mathematics?
Doing some work on theory of mathematical concepts and need a good framework that suits my own views. Is the classical theory of concepts, which seems to no to suffer very much when considered in ...
- 31
4
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Can concepts exist without animals or human beings?
Can concepts exist if humans or animals don't exist at all? Can't other things that have no mind make abstraction or concepts?
For example, I think abstract things such as redness (quality) and ...
- 433
2
votes
1
answer
51
views
Understanding as conceptual
I am looking for references in the literature where people equate the process of understanding with conceptual activity. I will not be able to sketch it out exactly. My hunch is that there should be ...
- 676
3
votes
3
answers
101
views
Does logical pluralism imply conceptual pluralism?
By "conceptual pluralism," I mean something like, "Multiple conceptual analyses of the same concept are true." The example for the sake of which this question occurred to me is the ...
- 12.2k
1
vote
0
answers
22
views
Is there at least one essay focused on Kant's definition of "notions" as intermediary between idea(l)s and conceptions?
I tried Googling "Kant 'notions'" but that doesn't seem efficient (from the results I've gotten). I assume that he appealed to the word for its being originally cognate with noesis and the ...
- 12.2k
3
votes
2
answers
155
views
What is the philosophy that deals with concepts being correctly fitted to reality or "carving reality at the joints"?
In philosophy of science thinkers sometimes speak of certain theoretical concepts "carving nature at its joints" (I think this might have been used prominently by Hilary Putnam but I can't ...
- 1,006
2
votes
1
answer
42
views
Does counterpossible reasoning limit the value of using folk intuitions as a parameter in conceptual analysis?
It's too long to quote as well as I'd like, but the section on moral responsibility in the SEP article on empirical moral psychology includes as an example:
... Nahmias, Morris, Nadelhoffer and ...
- 12.2k
6
votes
1
answer
97
views
Essentialism and concepts
I've been reading an old logic text (Deductive Logic. George Stock. 1888) and he describes something very like Aristotle's notion of a definition, but in his description, it is clearly a matter of ...
- 7,396
2
votes
1
answer
79
views
How many isolated concept clusters are there?
Let me start by explaining what I mean by an isolated concept cluster. It is often remarked that you can't define any moral term without using other moral terms. For example, you can define obligation ...
- 7,396
0
votes
1
answer
32
views
How do terms and concepts map to and relate to each other when thinking across languages?
I am working on creating a cross-linguistic dictionary every now and then, and currently thinking about the relationship between terms (single or multi word), morphemes (word parts), and concepts. At ...
- 227
7
votes
5
answers
1k
views
What is meant by abstract concepts and concrete concepts? Aren't the former tautologous and latter contradictory?
There are two phrases that I had often seen in books but now after giving a deeper thought, I'm unable to wrap my head around them. These phrases are 'abstract concept' and 'concrete concept'.
The ...
- 429
1
vote
0
answers
121
views
What is the standard of determining whether someone understanding the concept? [closed]
A typical example would be aphantasia, a group of people who can't imagine pictures in mind. That means they are unable to imagine concrete object like geometry and it's almost the only way to know ...
- 41
1
vote
1
answer
109
views
How to represent concepts without words or gestures (purely in your mind) in a discrete and easily "navigable" way?
I have spent a lot of time thinking about language and how humans may have evolved language, and keep going further and further back into the depths of what may have been known at a certain time, and ...
- 227
3
votes
1
answer
143
views
Can abstract concepts be represented by types in mathematics?
I am reading about type theory along with abstraction and am wondering how they relate. Am i right in thinking that an abstract concept (from the result of abstraction) can be represented by a type in ...
- 826
1
vote
0
answers
51
views
The discursive nature of a concept [closed]
Concepts are universal, insofar as they are not individuated, and they are abstractions.
What does it really mean to say concepts are discursive?
- 127
5
votes
7
answers
905
views
Do distinctions and concepts exist?
Before answering the question, keep in mind that I am a second-year Biology student, with a lack of formal study in Philosophy.
Original post: I believe, all definitions, words, and concepts (...
- 67
-1
votes
1
answer
99
views
Are artworks created or discovered?
I am trying to deny Joseph Margolis' argument that pieces of art are not 'universals'. Particularly, I want to say that types (in the tokens-of-a-type sense) are essentially the same thing as ...
- 1
4
votes
2
answers
133
views
Can concrete objects have multiple occurrences?
I was reading SEP article on types and tokens, and got interested in the concept of 'occurrence'. We would describe the fact that the number '2' appears multiple times in an expression as an example ...
- 1,093
2
votes
1
answer
55
views
What decides when a conceptual analysis is 'complete'?
When an analysis of a concept is given like
"A bachelor is an unmarried male." How is it decided if the analysis is correct and complete? Is there any way we can 'check' an analysis?
- 826
-2
votes
1
answer
86
views
Universals, object-concept and sense
I am confused about "concept", "sense" and "properties" which may have some similarity but fundamentally are different.
I explain my understanding as follows :
Object-...
- 63
4
votes
1
answer
131
views
How does Penrose's ideas in "Shadow of the mind" hold up more than twenty years later?
In the book Shadow of the mind, Penrose argues that Human consciousness is strictly non computational based on some logic arguments. I have talked to some peers related to logic, and they seem to ...
- 2,118
1
vote
4
answers
162
views
Is this making a conspiracy theory?
I'm not sure where to ask this question. Please let me know if this is not the best place. This is not specific to a language, but rather a concept.
Context: There is some news about some group of ...
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
75
views
Is there a name for "inaccessible" concepts
My question refers to three kinds of "inaccessible" concepts:
Those "humanly inaccessible" in the sense that we cannot conceive them as humans but that could be thought about with ...
- 11
0
votes
3
answers
152
views
Are all concepts definable? [duplicate]
You open a dictionary and all the words are defined by other words. If concepts have the same circularity as words, ultimately none would have meaning (I suppose that's debatable, but I'm assuming it ...
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
64
views
Is there a resource cataloguing unique and fundamental concepts cross-culturally?
I am working on a "conlang", which is basically a fantasy language. I have collected 4,000-ish words in their "base" form (some we still need to find the base for, but they can be ...
- 227
0
votes
2
answers
80
views
Do the words "in relation to" imply relativism?
Do the words "in relation to" imply any relativism? For example: "The earth is small in relation to the Sun", or "I am good in relation to mathematics", or "He is ...
1
vote
2
answers
144
views
draw a distinction between a class (abstract) and the set of all members (concrete)
I'm designing a learning program and I need to come up with a set of terms for the "objects" the user interacts with.
In a concise way, I'd like to come up with two terms that describe:
a ...
- 111
1
vote
4
answers
301
views
Goals and benefits of the process abstraction for minds
What is the philosophical importance of abstraction in regard to philosophy of mind? People seem to use abstraction all of the time, however, can someone please bring a concrete example that ...
- 19
3
votes
1
answer
142
views
Is a set a concept?
Follow on from this question.
Since sets have both intentional and extensional definition my thought is yes they are concepts. But maybe there is a technical reason that sets aren't concepts?
- 2,387
2
votes
1
answer
160
views
Do the set of "Concepts" contain itself?
So I gather that a set containing itself is not allowed. Yet it seems like a set of all concepts (Concepts) should contain an element denoting the idea of "concept". Is it that there is a ...
- 2,387
1
vote
0
answers
99
views
Identity of concepts' intentional content
I have recently read some articles about (lexical) concepts. Philosophers tend to think that, in order for two speakers to be able to communicate successfully, they must associate the exact same ...
- 113
1
vote
0
answers
143
views
Concepts possession conditions
As a consequence of my growing interest in epistemology, I recently read some articles about concepts. The authors were originating from different fields, such as philosophy of mind, language and ...
- 113
2
votes
1
answer
50
views
Where in Aristotle's Topics did he say there's no exact/clear way to distinguish two concepts?
I've heard that Aristotle supposed in his Topics that there's no exact/clear way to distinguish two concepts. What exactly did he say?
- 123
0
votes
1
answer
906
views
Difference between *concept* and *knowledge*?
The SEP entry "Rationalism vs Empiricism" distinguishes between the terms concept and knowledge.
Is there some standard distinction between these two terms that's commonly used by most philosophers? (...
user46819
1
vote
1
answer
215
views
Does there exist a class of "fundamental concepts"? How could they be recognized?
Does there exist a class of "fundamental concepts"?
That is concepts, such as "parameter", "part", "range", "form" etc. that at least for me seem like "something that is hard to take away without ...
- 2,872
1
vote
0
answers
101
views
What is the "ontic principle"?
"there is no difference that does not make a difference"
according to Bryant. Specifically, and independent of whether this is stated by him, does it mean that any two terms with the same referent ...
user38026
-1
votes
1
answer
142
views
How/when can categorization of things be correct?
How/when can categorization of things be correct? Meaning just "categorization" in general.
It's intuitive that categorization is a "primitive" cognitive and linguistic phenomenon. Without ...
- 2,872
1
vote
1
answer
253
views
Are concepts, such as neoliberalism, essentially contested?
Gallie proposed that many philosophical concepts are contested, ambiguous and murky. However, it has also been argued that since antiquity, philosophers are good at conceptual analysis. Especially ...
- 77
-1
votes
4
answers
82
views
The truth of statements which do not capture everything about the object [closed]
Logically it could be true to say: "All human beings are mortal (and therefore Peter is mortal because Peter is a human being)."
But the above statement could be false in a sense, because mortality ...
1
vote
1
answer
108
views
Philosophy of concepts - can it be (gradually) expressed in type theory?
Reasoning in mathematics is simple and subject to automation and discipline/system, because every concept (e.g. integer number, real number, derivative, integral, differential equation and its ...
- 179
6
votes
1
answer
5k
views
What does Nietzsche refer to with the "backworldsmen"?
I'm a rookie to philosophical thinking but trying my best to understand the concepts. I'd be appreciated if you could enlighten me about this:
In Chapter 3 of Thus Spake Zarathustra, he is addressing ...
- 71
3
votes
1
answer
156
views
What's the simplest thing?
If we imagine the world and what surrounds us as concepts, if you then had to explain these ideas (i.e. What's a person? What's an animal? What's a living being? ...) you'd then need to recursively ...
- 133
4
votes
2
answers
70
views
Can "moral reasoning" be defined as a perception?
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1527-2001.1996.tb01017.x
I saw this research paper titled "Moral reasoning as perception", and I was wondering how is it possible to conceive "moral ...
1
vote
3
answers
418
views
What are the differences between conditional and relative truths?
I thought they meant the same thing, but after asking about it in a philosophical forum, I was told they are different, but how so?
Are there universal meanings attributed to "conditional truth" and ...
- 3,837
0
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is the story "The happiness of fish" in Zhuangzi about naïve realism?
Here is the story, translated by Victor Mair:
Zhuangzi and Huizi were strolling along the bridge over the Hao River. Zhuangzi said, “The minnows swim about so freely, following the openings ...
- 735
5
votes
1
answer
378
views
Is a paradox a concept?
Obviously 'paradox' is a concept, we name certain things to be so. We share the knowledge of those things through the use of language. But those things, "in themselves", those particular "instances of ...
- 2,387
2
votes
5
answers
239
views
Who has used Poetry for Philosophy?
"Ineffable" is the word for that which can be touched by the mind but not the tongue. But in poetry images may be made that transcend the reality of mere language. This seems to me an excellent ...
- 2,387
0
votes
2
answers
781
views
What is moral inquiry in the context of James Lenman's paper?
I’ve been trying to understand this concept on my own, but I’m unable to grasp it. Google keeps referring to a paper published in the Aristotelian Society, but that article is hidden behind a paywall. ...
- 11
2
votes
0
answers
46
views
Superiority of the concept as opposed to synthetic apperception
In The Foundations of Arithmetic (§ 48, p. 61), after maintaining that statements of numbers are indeed statements of fact, Frege asserts that:
The concept has a power of collecting together far ...
- 93
2
votes
1
answer
139
views
On the universal and preconception in stoic logic: the word "natural" (naturale) from Diog. L., VII, 54
Foreword: as an Italian student, I hope that I will not make many mistakes in translating the lexicon from my native language to English; sometimes this will happen, and so putting the Italian word in ...
user35385