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Social constructionism, concept acquisition and the mismatch problemSynthese 198 (3): 2659-2673. 2019.An explanation of how we acquire concepts of kinds if they are socially constructed is a desideratum both for a successful account of concept acquisition and a successful account of social constructionism. Both face the so-called “mismatch problem” that is based on the observation that that there is often a mismatch between the descriptions proficient speakers associate with a word and the properties that its referents have in common. I argue that externalist theories of reference provide a plau…Read more
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Concepts and categorization: do philosophers and psychologists theorize about different things?Synthese 197 (5): 2171-2191. 2020.I discuss Edouard Machery’s claim that philosophers and psychologists when using the term ‘concept’ are really theorizing about different things. This view is not new, but it has never been developed or defended in detail. Once spelled out, we can see that Machery is right that the psychological literature uses a different notion of concept. However, Machery fails to acknowledge that the two notions are not only compatible but complementary. This fits more with the traditional view according to …Read more
Guido Löhr
Vrije University
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Vrije UniversityAssistant Professor
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Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamAssistant Professor
Institut Jean Nicod, Paris; Bochum
Alumnus, 2020
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Psychology |
Ambiguity and Polysemy |