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Full Idea
The abstractionist cannot give a logically coherent account of the features that are supposed to be reached by discriminative attention, corresponding to the words 'some' and 'not'.
Gist of Idea
The abstractionist cannot explain 'some' and 'not'
Source
Peter Geach (Abstraction Reconsidered [1983], p.167)
Book Ref
'Knowledge and Mind', ed/tr. Ginet,C/Shoemaker,S [OUP 1983], p.167
A Reaction
I understand 'some' in terms of mereology, because that connects to experience, and 'not' I take to derive more from psychological experience than from the physical world, building on thwarted expectation, which even animals experience.
10731 | For abstractionists, concepts are capacities to recognise recurrent features of the world [Geach] |
10732 | If concepts are just recognitional, then general judgements would be impossible [Geach] |
10733 | The abstractionist cannot explain 'some' and 'not' [Geach] |
10734 | Only a judgement can distinguish 'striking' from 'being struck' [Geach] |
10735 | Abstraction from objects won't reveal an operation's being performed 'so many times' [Geach] |