Seeking for the Grasp : An Iterative Subdivision Model of Conceptualisation

Concepts are fundamental collective constructs of individual items that are capable of abstracting meaningfully homogeneous groupings of phenomena. This capability is a prerequisite for communication and action and gives structure to learning and memory. Our study is aligned with the vast paradigm that assumes embodied cognition, rooted in Merleau-Ponty (Phenomenology of perception (trans: C. Smith). Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1962), seminally articulated by Varela et al. (Embodied mind: cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1991) and existing today in a number of variants that have been reviewed by Wilson (Six views of embodied cognition. Springer. Psycho…

Conceptual Spaces: Elaborations and Applications

Conceptualization for intended action: A dynamic model

Concepts are the building blocks of higher-order cognition and consciousness. Building on Conceptual Spaces Theory (CST) and proceeding from the assumption that concepts are inherently dynamic, this paper provides historical context to and significantly elaborates the previously offered Iterative Subdivision Model (ISDM) with the goal of pushing it toward empirical testability. The paper describes how agents in continuous interaction with their environment adopt an intentional orientation, estimate the utility of the concept(s) applicable to action in the current context, engage in practical action, and adopt any new concepts that emerge: a largely pre-intellectual cycle that repeats essent…

Analysis and synthesis with a three-component inferential system : Augmenting the explanatory scope of Conceptual Spaces

The study introduces a model of analysis and synthesis, respective abductive and deductive reasoning, using the three-component inferential system, which is constituted by a perspective-relative augmentation of Gärdenfors’s theory of Conceptual Spaces (CS). A general formulation of Perspective, based on our earlier work, corresponds to prioritization among property dimensions. Instead of assuming one conceptual space as in the CS, a distinction is made between the high-dimensional description of the discourse/domain termed Ontospace, and the two-dimensional perspectival space onto which a Perspectiverelative hierarchical conceptualization is projected, referred to as the Perspectival Space.…