You might frequently think or talk about your bike or old furniture or small toddlers, but have you
ever thought about nobodies non-cat or either-blue-or-yellow things that are smaller than a raven,
or all women with more or fewer than three grandchildren? Probably not. Not all concepts one
can form seem to be on a par. In this seminar, we will study the question of what concepts are,
how categorizations arise, and why some categories seem, or even are, more natural than
others. The course will explore these debates at the intersection of cognitive science and
philosophy. As an introduction, we will study the entries on concepts and on natural kinds from
the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Depending on the interests of the participants, we will
decide on additional readings during the seminar.
- Dozent/in: Corina Strößner