Short Course Description
In the past 50 years, cognitive science has led to important breakthroughs in our understanding of concepts. Can cognitive science also contribute to the understanding of scientific concepts and political concepts? Do concepts such as CAT, EVOLUTION and STATE function similarly and point at similar mechanisms of conceptualization, understanding and communication? Or, are dissimilarities between different types of concepts more significant than the similarities between them? The seminar will introduce students to the contemporary research on concepts and to the philosophical problems raised by it. It will allow us discuss questions such as the following:
* What is a concept and how is it different from an "idea"?
* How should one understand the relationships between concepts and words?
* What is a scientific concept and how is it different from other concepts, such as political concepts? Is a scientific concept fundamentally different from concepts of the general lexicon?
* What can the cognitive study of concepts teach us about scientific concepts?
* What are the relationships between concepts and theories, and what are the relationships between scientific concepts and scientific theories?
* What do theories of conceptual change reveal about the nature of concepts? In what sense are concepts intrinsically historical?
* When knowledge migrate do concepts remain intact? Are concepts immutable and contain a stable core, and if they do?how can one determine it?
Full Syllabus
