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Rebooting the bootstrap argument: Two puzzles for bootstrap theories of concept development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

Lance J. Rips  and
Susan J. Hespos
Lance J. Rips
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. rips@northwestern.eduhttp://mental.psych.northwestern.eduhespos@northwestern.eduhttp://groups.psych.northwestern.edu/infantcognitionlab/sue.html
Susan J. Hespos
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. rips@northwestern.eduhttp://mental.psych.northwestern.eduhespos@northwestern.eduhttp://groups.psych.northwestern.edu/infantcognitionlab/sue.html
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Abstract

The Origin of Concepts sets out an impressive defense of the view that children construct entirely new systems of concepts. We offer here two questions about this theory. First, why doesn't the bootstrapping process provide a pattern for translating between the old and new systems, contradicting their claimed incommensurability? Second, can the bootstrapping process properly distinguish meaning change from belief change?

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , June 2011 , pp. 145 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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