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18. Thought / D. Concepts / 3. Ontology of Concepts / b. Concepts as abilities

[concepts as abilities to believe, decide and reason]

18 ideas
A 'conception', the rational implication of a word, lies in its bearing upon the conduct of life [Peirce]
We return to experience with concepts, where they show us differences [James]
Possessing a concept is knowing how to go on [Wittgenstein, by Peacocke]
Concepts direct our interests and investigations, and express those interests [Wittgenstein]
Man learns the concept of the past by remembering [Wittgenstein]
For abstractionists, concepts are capacities to recognise recurrent features of the world [Geach]
Concepts are (at least in part) abilities and not occurrences [Putnam]
Concepts have a 'Generality Constraint', that we must know how predicates apply to them [Evans, by Peacocke]
I prefer psychological atomism - that concepts are independent of epistemic capacities [Fodor]
Are concepts best seen as capacities? [Fodor]
For Pragmatists having a concept means being able to do something [Fodor]
In the information view, concepts are potentials for making distinctions [Fodor]
Cartesians put concept individuation before concept possession [Fodor]
Possessing a concept is being able to make judgements which use it [Peacocke]
A concept is just what it is to possess that concept [Peacocke]
Employing a concept isn't decided by introspection, but by making judgements using it [Peacocke]
Maybe the concept CAT is just the ability to discriminate and infer about cats [Margolis/Laurence]
The abilities view cannot explain the productivity of thought, or mental processes [Margolis/Laurence]