Projectibility and Science: Epistemic Challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2024.e96054Keywords:
Projectibility, Induction, Similarity, Natural Kinds, Scientific ConceptsAbstract
Appealing to science is a popular suggestion for separating projectible predicates. According to this suggestion, we can expect science, eventually, to separate such predicates for us, rendering it unnecessary to make further attempts to explicate the criteria for projectibility. In this essay, I address three theoretical challenges to this suggestion. The first stems from the inductive character of science, which casts doubts on its efficacy in separating projectible predicates, since induction itself requires this separation. The second is the inferential externalism implied by this suggestion, whereas the problems of induction have bite only if inferential internalism is presumed. The third challenge appears when a strong relationship between projectibility and kindhood, on the one hand, and kindhood and similarity, on the other, is posited, such that a more projectible predicate is believed to be a predicate which tracks better similarities in nature. Now the question appears: whether and how science enables us to track better similarities? I distinguish two conceptions of similarity, one intuitive, the other theoretical, and I argue that the theoretical one is to be preferred, showing that how scientific practice involves shifting from an intuitive idea of similarity to a theoretical one. Through answering these three challenges, I attempt to support the appeal to natural science as far as Goodman’s problem of induction is concerned.
References
Andersen, H.; Nersessian, N. 2000. Nomic concepts, frames and conceptual change. Philosophy of Science 67: 224–241.
Andersen, H.; Barker, P.; Chen, X. 2006. The Cognitive Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Baghramian, M. 2004. Relativism. London: Routledge.
Bassok, M. 1990. Transfer of domain-specific problem-solving procedures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 16: 522–533.
Boster, J. S.; Johnson, J. C. 1989. Form or Function: A Comparison of Expert and Novice Judgments of Similarity Among Fish. American Anthropologist 91(4): 866–889.
Bousfield, W. A.; Sedgewick, C. H. W. 1944. An analysis of sequences of restricted associative responses. Journal of General Psychology 30: 149–165.
Boyd, R. 1995. Homeostasis, species and higher taxa. In R. Wilson (ed.), Species, p.141-185. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Carey, S. 1992. The origin and evolution of everyday concepts. In R. N. Giere (ed.), Cognitive Models of Science, p.15-89. Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XV. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Carey, S.; Spelke, E. 1996. Science and core knowledge. Philosophy of Science 63(4): 515–533.
Carnap, R. 1948. Reply to Nelson Goodman. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 8(3): 461–462.
Carroll, L. 1895. What the tortoise said to Achilles. Mind 4(14): 278–280.
Chang, H. 2015. The rising of chemical natural kinds through epistemic iteration. In C. Kendig (ed.), Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice, p.33–47. London: Routledge.
Chen, L. 1982. Topological structure in visual perception. Science, New Series 218(4573): 699–700.
Conee, E.; Feldman, R. 2008. Evidence. In Q. Smith (ed.), Epistemology: New essays, p.83–104. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cowling, S. 2017. Resemblance. Philosophy Compass 12(4): e12401.
Dennett, D. 1987. The Intentional Stance. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press.
Elder, C. 1990. Goodman’s New Riddle – A Realist Reprise. Philosophical Studies 59(2): 115–135.
Ereshefsky, M.; Reydon, T. A. C. 2015. Scientific kinds. Philosophical Studies 172(4): 969–986.
Fodor, J.A. 1981. Representations: Philosophical Essays on the Foundations of Cognitive Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Foster, J. 1983. Induction, explanation and natural necessity. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 83: 87–101.
Frege, G. 1964 [1883]. The Basic Laws of Arithmetic: Exposition of the System. Trans. and ed. M. Furth. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Fumerton, R. 1980. Induction and reasoning to the best explanation. Philosophy of Science 47: 589–600.
Fumerton, R. 2006. Epistemology. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gärdenfors, P. 2000. Conceptual Space: The Geometry of Thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Garner, W. R. 1974. The processing of information and structure. New York: Wiley.
Gentner, D. 2003. Why we’re so smart. In D. Gentner; S. Goldin-Meadow (eds.), Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought. p.195–235. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gentner, D; Hoyos, C. 2017. Analogy and abstraction. Topics in Cognitive Science 9: 672–693.
Giere, R. N. 1990. textitExplaining Science: A Cognitive Approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Godfrey-Smith, P. 2003. Goodman’s problem and scientific methodology. The Journal of Philosophy 100(11): 573–590.
Godfrey-Smith, P. 2011. Induction, samples and kinds. In J.K. Campbell et al. (eds.) Carving Nature at Its Joints, pp.33–53. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Goldman, A.I. 1979. What is justified belief?, in G. S. Pappas (ed.), Justification and Knowledge. Philosophical Studies Series in Philosophy, 17, p.1–25. Dordrecht: Springer.
Goldstone, R. L. 1994. Similarity, interactive activation, and mapping. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 20: 3–28.
Goldstone, R. L.; Son, J. Y. 2005. Similarity. in K. Holyoak; R. Morrison (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning, p.13–36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goodman, N. 1951. The Structure of Appearance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Goodman, N. 1955. Fact, Fiction and Forecast. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Harman, G. 1965. The Inference to the Best Explanation. Philosophical Review 74: 88–95.
Holyoak, K. J.; Koh, K. 1987. Surface and structural similarity in analogical transfer. Memory and Cognition 15: 332–340.
Howard, M. W.; Kahana, M. J. 2002. When does semantic similarity help episodic retrieval?. Journal of Memory and Language 46: 85–98.
Hunn, E. 1982. The Utilitarian Factor in Folk Biological Classification. American Anthropologist 84(4): 830–847.
Jackson, F. 1975. Grue. Journal of Philosophy 72(5): 113-131.
Jackson, F.; Pargetter, R. 1980. Confirmation and the Nomological. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 10: 415–28.
James, W. 1950 [1890]. The principles of psychology. New York: Dover.
Kahneman, D. 2011. Thinking fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Kemp, C.; Bernstein, A.; Tenenbaum, J. B. 2005. A generative theory of similarity. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 27. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/66b344s3. Access 08.11.2024.
Khalidi, M. A. 2013. Three kinds of social kinds. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 90: 96–112.
Kornblith, H. 1995. Inductive inference and its natural ground. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kuhn, T. 1977 [1974]. Second Thoughts on Paradigms. In The Essential Tension, p.293–319. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lewis, D. 1984. Putnam’s Paradox. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 62(3): 221–236.
Lewis, D. 1986. On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford: Blackwell.
Locke, J. 1975 [1690]. An Essay concerning Human Understanding. Edited by P. H. Nidditch. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lycan, W. G. 1988. Judgement and justification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Magnus, P.D. 2012. Scientific Inquiry and Natural Kinds. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Markman, A. B.; Gentner, D. 1993. Structural alignment during similarity comparisons. Cognitive Psychology 25: 431–467.
Medin, D. L.; Goldstone, R. L.; Gentner, D. 1990. Similarity Involving Attributes and Relations: Judgments of Similarity and Difference are not Inverses. Psychological Science 1(1): 64–69.
Medin, D. L.; Goldstone, R. L.; Markman, A. B. 1995. Comparison and choice: Relations between similarity processes and decision processes. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 2: 1–19.
Medin, D. L.; Schaffer, M. M. 1978. Context theory of classification learning, Psychological Review 85: 207–238.
Medin, D. L; et al. 1997. Categorization and Reasoning among Tree Experts: Do All Roads Lead to Rome? Cognitive Psychology 32(1): 49–96.
Mill, J. 1829. Analysis of the phenomenon of the human mind (Vol. 2). London: Baldwin and Cradock.
Mill, J. S. 1974 [1843]. A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, Part II. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Morton, A. 1975. Complex individuals and multigrade relations. Nous 9: 309–318.
Murphy,G. L.; Medin,D. L. 1985. The role of theories in conceptual coherence. Psychological Review 92: 289–316.
Nosofsky, R. M. 1986. Attention, similarity, and the identification-categorization relation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, General 115: 39–57.
Nosofsky, R. M. 1992. Exemplar-based approach to relating categorization, identification, and recognition. In F.G. Ashby (ed.), Multidimensional models of perception and cognition, p.363–394. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Novick, L. R. 1988. Analogical transfer, problem similarity, and expertise. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory, and Cognition 14: 510–520.
Novick, L. R. 1990. Representational transfer in problem solving. Psychological Science 1: 128–132.
Osherson, D. N.; et al. 1990. Category-based induction. Psychological Review 97: 185–200.
Posner, M. I.; Keele, S. W. 1968. On the genesis of abstract idea. Journal of Experimental Psychology 77: 353–363.
Pust, J. 1996. Induction, Focused sampling, and the law of small numbers. Synthese 108: 89–104.
Quine, W. V. 1969. Natural Kinds. in Ontological Relativity and Other Essays. New York: Columbia University Press.
Quinton, A. 1957. Properties and Classes. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 58: 33–58.
Raaijmakers, J. G. W.; Shiffrin, R. M. 1981. Search of associative memory. Psychological Review 88: 93–134.
Romney, A. K.; Brewer, D. D.; Batchelder, W. H. 1993. Predicting clustering from semantic structure. Psychological Science 4: 28–34.
Rosch, E. 1973. Natural categories. Cognitive Psychology 4: 328-350.
Rosch, E.; Mervis, C. B. 1975. Family resemblance: Studies in the internal structure of categories. Cognitive Psychology 7: 573–605.
Ross, B. H. 1987. This is like that: The use of earlier problems and the separation of similarity effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 13: 629–639.
Ross, B. H. 1989. Distinguishing types of superficial similarities: Different effects on the access and use of earlier problems. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 15(3): 456–468.
Searle, J. 1995. The Construction of Social Reality. New York: The Free Press.
Shafir, E.; Smith, E.; Osherson, D. 1990. Typicality and reasoning fallacies’. Memory and Cognition 18(3): 229–239.
Shepard, R. N. 1962a. The analysis of proximities: Multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function. Part I. Psychometrika 27: 125–140.
Shepard, R. N. 1962b. The analysis of proximities: Multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function. Part II. Psychometrika 27: 219–246.
Shipman, A. S.; Boster, J. S. 2008. Recall, Similarity Judgment, and Identification of Trees: A Comparison of Experts and Novices. Ethos 36(2): 171–193.
Slater, M. 2015. Natural Kindness. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66(2): 375-411.
Sloman, S. A. 1996. The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychological Bulletin 1(19): 3–22.
Smith, E. E.; Sloman, S. A. 1994. Similarity versus rule-based categorization. Memory and Cognition 2(2): 377–386.
Spelke, E. S. 1988. The origin of physical knowledge. In L. Weiskrantz, (ed.), Thought without Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stein, E. 1996. Without Good Reason. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thomasson, A. 2003. Realism and Human Kinds. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 67: 580–609.
Tversky. A. 1977. Features of Similarity. Psychological Review 84: 327–352.
Tversky, A.; Gati, I. 1978. Studies of similarity. In E. Rosch; B. Lloyd (eds.), Cognition and Categorization, p.79–98. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Tversky, A.; Kahneman, D. 1974. Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science 185: 1124–1131.
Tversky, A.; Kahneman, D. 1982 [1971]. Belief in the Law of Small Numbers. In D. Kahneman et al. (eds.), Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, p.23–31. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tversky, A.; Kahneman, D. 1982. Judgments of and by representativeness. In D. Kahneman et al. (eds.), Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, p.84–98. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tversky, A.; Kahneman, D. 1983. Extensional versus intuitive reasoning: The conjunction fallacy in probability judgment. Psychological Review 90: 293–315.
Ullman, S. 1996. High-level vision: Object recognition and visual cognition. London: MIT Press.
Weintraub, R. 2013. Induction and inference to the best explanation. Philosophical Studies 166(1): 203–216.
Weisberg, M. 2013. Similarity and Simulation: Using models to understand the world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Whewell, W. 1858. Novum organon renovatum: Being the Second Part of the Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences. London: John W. Parker & Son, West Strand.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Mohammad Mahdi Hatef
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Principia http://www.periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/principia/index is licenced under a Creative Commons - Atribuição-Uso Não-Comercial-Não a obras derivadas 3.0 Unported.
Base available in www.periodicos.ufsc.br.
