Peter Gärdenfors
Lund University, Department of Philosophy & Cognitive Science, Department Member
This article outlines how conceptual spaces theory applies to modeling changes of scientific frameworks when these are treated as spatial structures rather than as linguistic entities. The theory is briefly introduced and five types of... more
This article outlines how conceptual spaces theory applies to modeling changes of scientific frameworks when these are treated as spatial structures rather than as linguistic entities. The theory is briefly introduced and five types of changes are presented. It is then contrasted with Michael Friedman’s neo-Kantian account that seeks to render Kuhn’s “paradigm shift” as a communicatively rational historical event of conceptual development in the sciences. Like Friedman, we refer to the transition from Newtonian to relativistic mechanics as an example of “deep conceptual change.” But we take the communicative rationality of radical conceptual change to be available prior to the philosophical meta-paradigms that Friedman deems indispensable for this purpose.
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ABSTRACT This article outlines how conceptual spaces theory applies to modeling changes of scientific frameworks when these are treated as spatial structures rather than as linguistic entities. The theory is briefly introduced and five... more
ABSTRACT This article outlines how conceptual spaces theory applies to modeling changes of scientific frameworks when these are treated as spatial structures rather than as linguistic entities. The theory is briefly introduced and five types of changes are presented. It is then contrasted with Michael Friedman’s neo-Kantian account that seeks to render Kuhn’s “paradigm shift” as a communicatively rational historical event of conceptual development in the sciences. Like Friedman, we refer to the transition from Newtonian to relativistic mechanics as an example of “deep conceptual change.” But we take the communicative rationality of radical conceptual change to be available prior to the philosophical meta-paradigms that Friedman deems indispensable for this purpose.
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Within analytic philosophy, induction has been seen as a problem concerning inferences that have been analysed as relations between sentences. In this article, we argue that induction does not primarily concern relations between... more
Within analytic philosophy, induction has been seen as a problem concerning inferences that have been analysed as relations between sentences. In this article, we argue that induction does not primarily concern relations between sentences, but between properties and categories. We outline a new approach to induction that is based on two theses. The first thesis is epistemological. We submit that there is not only knowledge-how and knowledge-that, but also knowledge-what. Knowledge-what concerns relations between properties and categories and we argue that it cannot be reduced to knowledge-that. We support the partition of knowledge by mapping it onto the long-term memory systems: procedural, semantic and episodic memory. The second thesis is that the role of inductive reasoning is to generate knowledge-what. We use conceptual spaces to model knowledge-what and the relations between properties and categories involved in induction.
The paper deals with how constraints on conceptual representations evolve through processes of knowledge shar- ing. We describe pragmatic settings of referential communication and provide a model of how names, nouns and adjectives emerge... more
The paper deals with how constraints on conceptual representations evolve through processes of knowledge shar- ing. We describe pragmatic settings of referential communication and provide a model of how names, nouns and adjectives emerge through a process of abstraction. In situations of referential communication, the contrast class - the set that intended referents must be distinguished from - is important for determining the degree of specification of referential utter- ances. Two processing strategies involving contrast classes are proposed that are connected to the nominal and adjectival levels of abstraction. Certain cognitive representational skills are needed to be able to assess a contrast class in a commu- nicative situation. We propose three communicative strategies that correspond to different assessments of the relevant con- trast class.
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... jämföra hur huggormar och katter jagar möss. (Exemplet har jag lånat från etologen Sverre Sjölander.) Både ormar och katter använder en ... planering. Ett exempel är när en schimpans som vill komma åt att äta termiterna i en stack ger... more
... jämföra hur huggormar och katter jagar möss. (Exemplet har jag lånat från etologen Sverre Sjölander.) Både ormar och katter använder en ... planering. Ett exempel är när en schimpans som vill komma åt att äta termiterna i en stack ger sig i väg från stacken, bryter en kvist från ett ...
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... Auteur : GARDENFORS Peter. Prix indicatif 34,50 €. Disponible chez l'éditeur (délai d'approvisionnement : 10 jours). Ajouter au panier Ajouter au panier le livre de GARDENFORSPeter. Date de parution : 10-2003 Langue :... more
... Auteur : GARDENFORS Peter. Prix indicatif 34,50 €. Disponible chez l'éditeur (délai d'approvisionnement : 10 jours). Ajouter au panier Ajouter au panier le livre de GARDENFORSPeter. Date de parution : 10-2003 Langue : ANGLAIS 200p. 23.4x15.6 Hardback. ...
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Understanding the process of categorization is a primary research goal in artificial intelligence. The conceptual space framework provides a flexible ap- proach to modeling context-sensitive categoriza- tion via a geometrical... more
Understanding the process of categorization is a primary research goal in artificial intelligence. The conceptual space framework provides a flexible ap- proach to modeling context-sensitive categoriza- tion via a geometrical representation designed for modeling and managing concepts. In this paper we show how algorithms developed in computational geometry, and the Region Con- nection Calculus can be used to model important