Concepts and mental structure

Abstract

The aim of the talk was to present a brief account of the history of investigations about concepts in the last decades, thereby contributing to the diffusion of cognitive science. The central episode in that history is the turning point that resultedfrom the researches carried out by Eleanor Rosch and others from the beginning of the 70's. Those researches constitute a challenge to the CLASSICAL VIEW OF CONCEPTS (which is described in the first part of the exposition). The fact that the rejection of the classical view is not a viable alternative generates what we called the PROBLEM OF CONCILIATION - that is, the problem of conciliating the classical view with the modern empirical results. The exposition ends with some suggestions towards the solution of the problem of conciliation.