Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:19:40.923Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Presuming placeholders are relevant enables conceptual change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

Christophe Heintz
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Central European University, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary. [email protected]://christophe.heintz.free.fr/

Abstract

Placeholders enable conceptual change only if presumed to be relevant (e.g., lead to the formation of true beliefs) even though their meaning is not yet fully understood and their cognitive function not yet specified. Humans are predisposed to make such presumptions in a communicative context. Specifying the role of the presumption of relevance in conceptual change would provide a more comprehensive account of Quinian bootstrapping.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carey, S. (2009) The origin of concepts. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gergely, G. & Csibra, G. (2006) Sylvia's recipe: The role of imitation and pedagogy in the transmission of cultural knowledge. In: Roots of human sociality: Culture, cognition, and human interaction, ed. Enfield, N. J. & Levenson, S. C., pp. 229–55. Berg Publishers.Google Scholar
Heintz, C. & Mercier, H. (2010) Inference to convincing explanation. Online manuscript: http://christophe.heintz.free.fr/papers/heintz10inference.pdf.Google Scholar
Horner, V. & Whiten, A. (2005) Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens). Animal Cognition 8(3):164–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sperber, D. (1975) Rethinking symbolism. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sperber, D. (1997) Intuitive and reflective beliefs. Mind and Language 12(1):6783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sperber, D. (2010) The guru effect. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 1(3):583–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar