The return of the nativist

Author: M. J. Cain

Source: Philosophical Explorations, Volume 7, Number 1, March 2004 , pp. 1-20(20)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $50.43 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Radical Concept Nativism (RCN) is the doctrine that most of our concepts are innate. In this paper I will argue in favour of RCN by developing a speculative account of concept acquisition that has considerable nativist credentials and can be defended against the most familiar anti-nativist objections. The core idea is that we have a whole battery of hard-wired dispositions that determine how we group together objects with which we interact. In having these dispositions we are effectively committed to an implicit conceptual scheme and acquiring concepts is a matter of labelling the elements of that scheme.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1386979032000186827

Publication date: 2004-03-01