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Full Idea
It has been proposed (on the basis of observations) that young children have three innate principles of counting - one-to-one correspondence of number to item, stable order for numbers, and cardinality (which labels the nth item counted).
Gist of Idea
Children may have three innate principles which enable them to learn to count
Source
Alvin I. Goldman (Phil Applications of Cognitive Science [1993], p.60)
Book Ref
Goldman,Alvin I.: 'Philosophical Applications of Cognitive Science' [Westview 1993], p.60
A Reaction
I like the idea of observed patterns as central (which is the one-to-one principle). But the other two principles are plausible, and show why pure empiricism won't work.
4047 | Gestalt psychology proposes inbuilt proximity, similarity, smoothness and closure principles [Goldman] |
4048 | Infant brains appear to have inbuilt ontological categories [Goldman] |
4049 | The way in which colour experiences are evoked is physically odd and unpredictable [Goldman] |
4044 | Rat behaviour reveals a considerable ability to count [Goldman] |
4045 | Children may have three innate principles which enable them to learn to count [Goldman] |
4043 | Elephants can be correctly identified from as few as three primitive shapes [Goldman] |