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Where are nature's joints? Finding the mechanisms underlying categorization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2010

Arthur B. Markman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. [email protected]://www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/FACULTY/Markman/index.html

Abstract

Machery argues that concepts are too heterogeneous to be a natural kind. I argue that the book does not go far enough. Theories of concepts assume that the task of categorizing warrants a unique set of cognitive constructs. Instead, cognitive science must look across tasks to find a fundamental set of cognitive mechanisms.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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