Natural Concepts and the Economics of Cognition and Communication

• Published in: Philosophia (Ramat Gan) Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 865 - 882
• Main Author: Gärdenfors, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Education; Epistemology; Ethics; Philosophy; Philosophy of Language; Philosophy of Mind; Philosophy of Science; Natural concepts; Concept learning; Conceptual spaces; Geometric models; Coherence; Force dynamic; Convexity; Generalization; Communication

This article takes a cognitive approach to natural concepts. The aim is to introduce criteria that are evaluated with respect to how they support the cognitive economy of humans when using concepts in reasoning and communicating with them. I first present the theory of conceptual spaces as a tool fo...