Frameworks for Properties: Possible Worlds vs. Conceptual Spaces

My discussion will be focussed on the notion of a property. I first present the standard intensional definition of a property, which is formulated in terms of possible worlds, and outline some of the philosophical problems this definition leads to. Then I introduce the notion of a conceptual space and show how such spaces can be used as a basis for a new criterion of what a property is. This criterion will be shown to elude the problems of the traditional approach. Furthermore, it will be argued that the criterion is useful for understanding prototype effects of properties and the role of properties in non-monotonic reasoning.

[1]  P G rdenfors,et al.  Knowledge in flux: modeling the dynamics of epistemic states , 1988 .

[2]  Michael Reinfrank,et al.  Non-Monotonic Reasoning , 1989, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[3]  I. Biederman.  Recognition-by-components: a theory of human image understanding. , 1987, Psychological review.

[4]  Refractor.  Vision , 2000, The Lancet.

[5]  E. Rosch.  Cognitive Representations of Semantic Categories. , 1975 .

[6]  Peter Gärdenfors,et al.  Mental representation, conceptual spaces and metaphors , 2004, Synthese.

[7]  P. Kay.  Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution , 1969 .

[8]  Jaakko Hintikka,et al.  Modality and Quantification , 2008 .

[9]  Paul M. Churchland,et al.  Some reductive Strategies in Cognitive Neurobiology , 1986, The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence.

[10]  Saul Kripke,et al.  A completeness theorem in modal logic , 1959, Journal of Symbolic Logic.

[11]  E. Rosch,et al.  Categorization of Natural Objects , 1981 .

[12]  R. L. Goodstein,et al.  Provability in logic , 1959 .

[13]  Ghita Holmström-Hintikka,et al.  Provability in Logic , 2001 .

[14]  L. Vaina.  From shapes and movements to objects and actions , 2004, Synthese.

[15]  George Lakoff,et al.  Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things , 1987 .

[16]  George Bealer,et al.  On the identification of properties and propositional functions , 1989 .

[17]  Hilary Putnam,et al.  Models and reality , 1980, Journal of Symbolic Logic.

[18]  Ernst Bloch,et al.  Essays on the philosophy of music , 1985 .

[19]  R. Langacker.  Foundations of cognitive grammar , 1983 .

[20]  Peter Gärdenfors,et al.  Induction, Conceptual Spaces and AI , 1990, Philosophy of Science.

[21]  J. Foss.  The Percept and Vector Function Theories of the Brain , 1988, Philosophy of Science.

[22]  G. Fairbanks,et al.  A psychophysical investigation of vowel formants. , 1961, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[23]  D. Marr,et al.  Representation and recognition of the spatial organization of three-dimensional shapes , 1978, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[24]  J. Smart.  Neurophilosophy: Toward a unified science of the mind-brain Patricia Smith Churchland. Bradford Books, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1986). xiv + 546 pp. , 1987, Neuroscience.