Single Idea 18603

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 4. Structure of Concepts / d. Concepts as prototypes]

Full Idea

Barsalou (1983,1985) introduced the idea of ideals instead of prototypes. An ideal is a body of knowledge about the properties a thing should possess (rather than its typical actual properties). ... A 'bully' might be perfect, rather than typical.

Gist of Idea

Maybe concepts are not the typical properties, but the ideal properties

Source

Edouard Machery (Doing Without Concepts [2009], 4.5.3)

Book Reference

Machery,Edouard: 'Doing Without Concepts' [OUP 2009], p.117


A Reaction

[compressed] Machery offers this as an interesting minor variant, with little experimental support. I take idealisation to be one of the three key mental operations that enable us to think about the world (along with abstraction and generalisation).