Buckner, Cameron (2016) Transitional Gradation in the Mind: Rethinking Psychological Kindhood. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 67 (4). pp. 1091-1115. ISSN 1464-3537
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Abstract
I here critique the application of the traditional, similarity-based account of natural kinds to debates in psychology. A challenge to such accounts of kindhood—familiar from the study of biological species—is a metaphysical phenomenon that I call ‘transitional gradation’: the systematic progression of slightly modified transitional forms between related candidate kinds. Where such gradation proliferates, it renders the selection of similarity criteria for kinds arbitrary. Reflection on general features of learning—especially on the gradual revision of concepts throughout the acquisition of expertise—shows that even the strongest candidates for similarity-based kinds in psychology exhibit systematic transitional gradation. As a result, philosophers of psychology should abandon discussion of kindhood, or explore non-similarity based accounts.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | natural kinds similarity concepts | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Psychology |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Cameron Buckner | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 16 Aug 2019 11:57 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 16 Aug 2019 11:57 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 16332 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | ||||||
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://academic.oup.com/bjps/article-abstract/67/... | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 67/4/1091/2526191 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Psychology |
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| Date: | 2016 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 1091-1115 | ||||||
| Volume: | 67 | ||||||
| Number: | 4 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1464-3537 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/16332 |
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