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Single Idea 15699
[filed under theme 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 5. Concepts and Language / c. Concepts without language
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Full Idea
Language does not appear to be necessary for forming categories, since prelinguistic infants acquire many categories, and even use categories to form inferences about unknown properties.
Gist of Idea
Prelinguistic infants acquire and use many categories
Source
Susan A. Gelman (The Essential Child [2003], 08 'Intro')
Book Ref
Gelman,Susan A.: 'The Essential Child' [OUP 2005], p.179
A Reaction
She cites lots of research in support of this claim. The idea may come as a surprise to some people, but not to me. I take it that categorisation is what a brain is for, including animal brains.
The
32 ideas
from Susan A. Gelman
15685
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Essentialism is either natural to us, or an accident of our culture, or a necessary result of language
[Gelman]
|
15679
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Essentialism comes from the cognitive need to categorise
[Gelman]
|
15678
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Essentialism says categories have a true hidden nature which gives an object its identity
[Gelman]
|
15683
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Sortals are needed for determining essence - the thing must be categorised first
[Gelman]
|
15684
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Children's concepts include nonobvious features, like internal parts, functions and causes
[Gelman]
|
15681
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Essentialism: real or representational? sortal, causal or ideal? real particulars, or placeholders?
[Gelman]
|
15682
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Even fairly simple animals make judgements based on categories
[Gelman]
|
15680
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Folk essentialism rests on belief in natural kinds, in hidden properties, and on words indicating structures
[Gelman]
|
15686
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Labels may indicate categories which embody an essence
[Gelman]
|
15687
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Kinship is essence that comes in degrees, and age groups are essences that change over time
[Gelman]
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15688
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Categories are characterized by distance from a prototype
[Gelman]
|
15689
|
Theory-based concepts use rich models to show which similarities really matter
[Gelman]
|
15690
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Causal properties are seen as more central to category concepts
[Gelman]
|
15696
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Peope favor historical paths over outward properties when determining what something is
[Gelman]
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15697
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Kind (unlike individual) essentialism assumes preexisting natural categories
[Gelman]
|
15691
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Children accept real stable categories, with nonobvious potential that gives causal explanations
[Gelman]
|
15692
|
People tend to be satisfied with shallow explanations
[Gelman]
|
15693
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One sample of gold is enough, but one tree doesn't give the height of trees
[Gelman]
|
15694
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Children overestimate the power of a single example
[Gelman]
|
15695
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Children make errors in induction by focusing too much on categories
[Gelman]
|
15698
|
We found no evidence that mothers teach essentialism to their children
[Gelman]
|
15700
|
In India, upper-castes essentialize caste more than lower-castes do
[Gelman]
|
15699
|
Prelinguistic infants acquire and use many categories
[Gelman]
|
15701
|
Nouns seem to invoke stable kinds more than predicates do
[Gelman]
|
15702
|
Essentialism doesn't mean we know the essences
[Gelman]
|
15703
|
Memories often conform to a theory, rather than being neutral
[Gelman]
|
15704
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Essentialism starts from richly structured categories, leading to a search for underlying properties
[Gelman]
|
15707
|
There is intentional, mechanical, teleological, essentialist, vitalist and deontological understanding
[Gelman]
|
15708
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Inductive success is rewarded with more induction
[Gelman]
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15709
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Essentialism is useful for predictions, but it is not the actual structure of reality
[Gelman]
|
15705
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Essentialism encourages us to think about the world scientifically
[Gelman]
|
15706
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A major objection to real essences is the essentialising of social categories like race, caste and occupation
[Gelman]
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