Abstract:
The
basic function of conception is not
classification. Instead, a practical capacity to track or reidentify
the
entities conceived or thought of, under diverse conditions and through
diverse
media, is paramount. The capacity to track or reidentify
individuals,
objective kinds and properties is necessary in order to collect
knowledge over
various encounters with them at different times, and also in order to
apply
that knowledge for practical or theoretical purposes. Given the hugely
complicated variety of ever-varying circumstances that mediate between
the
objects of our empirical knowledge and the modes in which they affect
our
perceptual systems, that we manage to succeed in this basic cognitive
task as
well as we do is, well, astounding. And yet the philosophical and
psychological literature on concepts has systematically neglected this
fundamental aspect of conception.