Conceptual Spaces: Elaborations and Applications

Description

This edited book focuses on concepts and their applications using the theory of conceptual spaces, one of today’s most central tracks of cognitive science discourse. It features 15 papers based on topics presented at the Conceptual Spaces @ Work 2016 conference. The contributors interweave both theory and applications in their papers. Among the first mentioned are studies on metatheories, logical and systemic implications of the theory, as well as relations between concepts and language. Examples of the latter include explanatory models of paradigm shifts and evolution in science as well as dilemmas and issues of health, ethics, and education. The theory of conceptual spaces overcomes many translational issues between academic theoretization and practical applications. The paradigm is mainly associated with structural explanations, such as categorization and meronomy. However, the community has also been relating it to relations, functions, and systems. The book presents work that provides a geometric model for the representation of human conceptual knowledge that bridges the symbolic and the sub-conceptual levels of representation. The model has already proven to have a broad range of applicability beyond cognitive science and even across a number of disciplines related to concepts and representation. Front Matter ....Pages i-viii Editors’ Introduction (Mauri Kaipainen, Frank Zenker, Antti Hautamäki, Peter Gärdenfors)....Pages 1-4 Front Matter ....Pages 5-5 Conceptual Spaces, Generalisation Probabilities and Perceptual Categorisation (Nina L. Poth)....Pages 7-28 Formalized Conceptual Spaces with a Geometric Representation of Correlations (Lucas Bechberger, Kai-Uwe Kühnberger)....Pages 29-58 Three Levels of Naturalistic Knowledge (Andreas Stephens)....Pages 59-75 Convexity Is an Empirical Law in the Theory of Conceptual Spaces: Reply to Hernández-Conde (Peter Gärdenfors)....Pages 77-80 Front Matter ....Pages 81-81 On the Essentially Dynamic Nature of Concepts: Constant if Incremental Motion in Conceptual Spaces (Joel Parthemore)....Pages 83-102 Seeking for the Grasp: An Iterative Subdivision Model of Conceptualisation (Mauri Kaipainen, Antti Hautamäki)....Pages 103-123 Front Matter ....Pages 125-125 Lost in Space and Time: A Quest for Conceptual Spaces in Physics (Sylvia Wenmackers)....Pages 127-149 Interacting Conceptual Spaces I: Grammatical Composition of Concepts (Joe Bolt, Bob Coecke, Fabrizio Genovese, Martha Lewis, Dan Marsden, Robin Piedeleu)....Pages 151-181 Magnitude and Number Sensitivity of the Approximate Number System in Conceptual Spaces (Aleksander Gemel, Paula Quinon)....Pages 183-203