Single Idea 12577

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 3. Ontology of Concepts / b. Concepts as abilities]

Full Idea

Possession of any concept requires the capacity to make judgements whose content contain it.

Gist of Idea

Possessing a concept is being able to make judgements which use it

Source

Christopher Peacocke (A Study of Concepts [1992], 2.1)

Book Reference

Peacocke,Christopher: 'A Study of Concepts' [MIT 1999], p.44


A Reaction

Idea 12575 suggested that concept possession was an ability just to think about the concept. Why add that one must actually be able to make a judgement? Presumably to get truth in there somewhere. I may only speculate and fantasise, rather than judge.

Related Idea

Idea 12575 Concepts have a 'Generality Constraint', that we must know how predicates apply to them [Evans, by Peacocke]