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7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation

[how the mind approaches putting things into categories]

17 ideas
We only succeed in cutting if we use appropriate tools, not if we approach it randomly [Plato]
I revere anyone who can discern a single thing that encompasses many things [Plato]
We can't categorise things by their real essences, because these are unknown [Locke]
If we discovered real essences, we would still categorise things by the external appearance [Locke]
Does Kant say the mind imposes categories, or that it restricts us to them? [Rowlands on Kant]
Classification can only ever be for a particular purpose [James]
Infant brains appear to have inbuilt ontological categories [Goldman]
We should abandon classifying by pigeon-holes, and classify around paradigms [Sainsbury]
We should aim for a classification which tells us as much as possible about the object [Dupré]
Brain lesions can erase whole categories of perception, suggesting they are hard-wired [Carter,R]
Even fairly simple animals make judgements based on categories [Gelman]
Children accept real stable categories, with nonobvious potential that gives causal explanations [Gelman]
The aim is that everything should belong in some ontological category or other [Westerhoff]
Several words may label a category; one word can name several categories; some categories lack words [Ellen]
For each category of objects (such as 'dog') an individual seems to have several concepts [Machery]
A thing is classified if its features are likely to be generated by that category's causal laws [Machery]
Are quick and slow categorisation the same process, or quite different? [Machery]