Open AccessConceptual Development and Dynamic Realism
Author(s) -
Hanne Andersen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
studia philosophica estonica/studia philosophica estonica.
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2228-110X
pISSN - 1736-5899
DOI - 10.12697/spe.2012.5.2.09
Subject(s) - categorization , epistemology , development (topology) , work (physics) , cognitive science , cognition , normal science , computer science , realism , sociology , data science , psychology , philosophy , mathematics , engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , neuroscience
This paper focuses on Thomas S. Kuhn's work on taxonomic concepts and how it relates to empirical work from the cognitive sciences on categorization and conceptual development. I shall first review the basic features of Kuhn's family resemblance account and compare to work from the cognitive sciences. I shall then show how Kuhn's account can be extended to cover the development of new taxonomies in science, and I shall illustrate by a detailed case study that Kuhn himself mentioned only briefly in his own work, namely the discovery of X-rays and radioactivity.