Single Idea 8781

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 2. Origin of Concepts / a. Origin of concepts]

Full Idea

Having a concept is not recognizing a feature of experience; the mind makes concepts. We then fit our concepts to experience.

Gist of Idea

The mind does not lift concepts from experience; it creates them, and then applies them

Source

Peter Geach (Mental Acts: their content and their objects [1957], §11)

Book Reference

Geach,Peter: 'Mental Acts: Their content and their objects' [RKP 1971], p.40


A Reaction

This seems to imply that we create concepts ex nihilo, which is a rather worse theory than saying that we abstract them from multiple (and multi-level) experiences. That minds create concepts is a truism. How do we do it?