Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Meaning, prototypes and the future of cognitive science

  • General Article
  • Published:
Minds and Machines Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper I evaluate the soundness of the prototype paradigm, in particular its basic assumption that there are pan-human psychological essences or core meanings that refer to basic-level natural kinds, explaining why, on the whole, human communication and learning are successful. Instead I argue that there are no particular pan-human basic elements for thought, meaning and cognition, neither prototypes, nor otherwise. To illuminate my view I draw on examples from anthropology. More generally I argue that the prototype paradigm exemplifies two assumptions that dominate cognitive science: (1) If human beings use words they mean something particular and what they mean can be discovered by scientific methods. (2) There is a fixed number of domains of categorization, each made up of a fixed number of basic categories. I suggest that these two assumptions lead to Brave New World.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ArmstrongS. L., L. R.Gleitman, and H.Gleitman (1983), ‘What Some Concepts Might Not Be’, Cognition 13, pp. 253–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • AtranS. (1987a), ‘Ordinary Constraints on the Semantics of Living Kinds’, Mind & Language 2, pp. 27–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • AtranS. (1987b), ‘Origin of the Species and Genus of Concepts: An Anthropological Perspective’, Journal of the History of Biology 20, pp. 195–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • BarsalouL. (1987), ‘The Instability of Graded Structures: Implications for the Nature of Concepts’, in U.Neisser, ed., Concepts and Conceptual Development, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 101–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • BeagleholeJ. C., ed. (1967), The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery 1776–1780, part 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bechtel, W. (1987), ‘Connectionism and the Philosophy of Mind’, The Southern Journal of Philosophy 26, Supplement.

  • BerlinB., D. E.Breedlove and P. H.Raven (1974), Principles of Tzeltal Plant Classification, New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BerlinB. and P.Kay (1969), Basic Color Terms, Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BlockN., ed. (1981), Readings in Philosophy of Psychology, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, vol. II, part 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • BogdanR. J., ed. (1986), Belief: Form, Content and Function, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BriggsJ. L. (1970), Never in Anger, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BrownC. (1984), Language and Living Things, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BurgeT. (1986), ‘Individualism and Psychology’, The Philosophical Review 95, pp. 3–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • BurgeT. (1989), ‘Individualism and Psychology’, in S.Silvers, ed., Rerepresentation, Dordrecht: Reidel, pp. 39–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • BurgeT. (1989), ‘Wherein is Language Social?’, in A.George, ed., Reflections on Chomsky, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 175–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • CareyS. (1985), Conceptual Change in Childhood, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CavellS. (1979), The Claim of Reason, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ChapmanM. and R. A.Dixon (1987), Meaning and the Growth of Understanding, Berlin: Springer Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • CherniakC. (1986), Minimal Rationality, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ChurchlandP. M. (1988), Matter and Consciousness, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ChurchlandP. M. (1989), A Neurocomputational Perspective, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ClarkA. (1989), Microcognition, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CoulterJ. (1983), Rethinking Cognitive Theory, London: Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CraigC., ed. (1986), Noun Classes and Categorization, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • CutterD. C. (1969), The California Coast, Norman OH: University of Oklahoma Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • EdelmanG. M. (1987), Neural Darwinism, New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • FeyerabendP. (1987), ‘Putman on Incommensurability’, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38, pp. 75–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • FischerK. W. (1990), ‘How Emotions Develop and How They Organise Development’, Cognition and Emotion 4, pp. 81–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • FodorJ. (1981), Representations, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • FodorJ. A. (1983), The Modularity of Mind, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • FodorJ. A. (1987), Psychosemantics, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • FrenchR. M. (1990), ‘Subcognition and the Limits of the Turing Test’, Mind 99, pp. 53–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • FuhrmannGy. (1988), ‘“Prototypes” and “Fuzziness” in the Logic of Concepts’, Synthese 75, pp. 317–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • GeeraertsD. (1988), ‘Where Does Prototypicality Come From?’, in B.Rudzaka-Ostyn, ed., Topics in Cognitive Linguistics, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • GelmanS. A. (1988), ‘The Development of Induction within Natural Kind and Artifact Categories’, Cognitive Psychology 20, pp. 65–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • GillettG. (1989), ‘Representation and Cognitive Science’, Inquiry 32, pp. 261–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • GivonT. (1986), ‘Prototypes: Between Plato and Wittgenstein’, in C.Craig, ed., Noun Classes and Categorization, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co., pp. 77–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • GoldmanA. I. (1986), Epistemology and Cognition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • GoldmanA. I. (1988), ‘Psychology and Philosophical Analysis’, Proceedings Aristotelian Society 89, pp. 195–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • GoldmanA. I. (1989), ‘Interpretation Psychologized’, Mind & Language 4, pp. 161–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • HackerP. (1987), ‘Languages, Minds and Brains’, in C.Blakemore and S.Greenfield, eds., Mind Waves, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 485–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • HadleyR. F. (1989), ‘A Default-Oriented Theory of Procedural Semantics’, Cognitive Science 13, pp. 107–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • HardinC. L. (1988), Color for Philosophers, Indianapolis: Hackett.

    Google Scholar 

  • HarnadS., ed. (1987), Categorical Perception, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • HarréR. ed. (1987), The Social Construction of Emotions, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • HarréR. (1988), ‘Wittgenstein and Artificial Intelligence’, Philosophy and Psychology 1, pp. 105–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • HeelasP. (1987), ‘Emotion Talk across Cultures’, in R.Harré, ed., The Social Construction of Emotions, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • HeiderK. G. (1970), The Dugun Dani, Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickerson, N. (1988), ‘A Reconsideration of Lokono Color Terms’, paper presented at International Congress of Americanists, Amsterdam.

  • HiltonD., ed. (1988), Contemporary Science and Natural Explanation, Brighton: Harvester Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • HunnE. (1982), ‘The Utilitarian Factor in Folk Biological Classification’, American Anthropologist 84, pp. 830–847; also in J. W. D. Dougherty, ed., Directions in Cognitive Anthropology, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985, pp. 117–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • HutchinsE. (1980), Culture and Inference: A Trobriand Case Study, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IzardC. E. (1990), ‘Facial Expressions and the Regulation of Emotions’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58, pp. 487–498.

    Google Scholar 

  • IzardC. E., J.Kagan, and R. B.Zajonc, eds. (1984), Emotions, Cognition and Behaviour, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • JackendoffR. (1983), Semantics and Cognition, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • JackendoffR. (1987), Consciousness and the Computational Mind, Cambrdge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson-LairdP. N. and K.Oatley (1989), ‘The Language of Emotions’, Cognition and Emotion 3, pp. 81–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • KayP. and C. K.McDaniel (1978), ‘The Linguistic Significance of the Meanings of Basic Color Terms’, Language 54, pp. 610–646.

    Google Scholar 

  • KeilF. C. (1987), ‘Conceptual Development and Category Structure’, in U.Neisser, ed., Concepts and Conceptual Development, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 175–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • KobesB. W. (1989), ‘Semantics and Psychological Prototypes’, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 70, pp. 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kornblith, H. (1990), ‘Naturalistic Epistemology’, lecture 1990 APA Pacific Division Meeting.

  • LakoffG. (1987), Women, Fire and Dangerous Things, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LancyD. F. and A. J.Strathern (1981), ‘”Making Twos”: Pairing as an Alternative to the Taxonomic Mode of Presentation’, American Anthropologist 83, pp. 773–795.

    Google Scholar 

  • LehrerA. (1983), wine and Conversation, Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LehrerK. (1989), ‘Metamental Ascent: Beyond Belief and Desire’, Proceedings American Philosophical Association 63, pp. 19–30; also in his Metamind, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LivingstonK. R. (1989), ‘Concepts, Categories, and Epistemology’, Philosophia 19, pp. 265–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • LormandE. (1990), ‘Framing the Frame Problem’, Synthese 82, pp. 353–374.

    Google Scholar 

  • LumsdenC. (1985), ‘Color Categorization: A Possible Concordance Between Genes and Culture’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 82, pp. 5805–5808.

    Google Scholar 

  • LuriaA. R. (1976), Cognitive Development: Its Cultural and Social Foundations, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 20–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • LutzC. and G. M.White (1986), ‘The Anthropology of Emotions’, Annual Review of Anthropology 15, pp. 405–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • LycanW. G. (1986), ‘Tacit Belief’, in R. J.Bogdan, ed., Belief: Form, Content and Function, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LycanW. G. (1988), Judgement and Justification, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClellandJ. L. and D. E.Rumelhart (1986), ‘A Distributed Model of Human Learning and Memory’, in J. L.McClelland, D. E.Rumelhart, and the PDP Research Group, eds., Parallel Distributed Processing, vol. 2, Cambride MA: The MIT Press, pp. 170–215.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacCormacE. R. (1985), A Cognitive Theory of Metaphor, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonoughR. (1989), ‘Towards a Non-Mechanistic Theory of Meaning’, Mind 98, pp. 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacLauryR. E. (1987), ‘Color-Category Evolution and Shuswap Yellow-with-Green’, American Anthropologist 89, pp. 107–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • MalinowskiB. (1949), ‘The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages’, in C. K. Ogden and I. Richards, The Meaning of Meaning, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 315–336.

    Google Scholar 

  • MargolisJ. (1987), ‘Wittgenstein's “Forms of Life”’, in M.Chapman and R. A.Dixon, eds., Meaning and the Growth of Understanding, Berlin: Springer Verlag, pp. 129–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • MargolisJ. (1987), Science Without Unity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 436–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • MedinD. L. (1989), ‘Concepts and Conceptual Structure’, American Psychologist 44, pp. 1469–1481.

    Google Scholar 

  • MedinD. L. and E. J.Shoben (1988), ‘Context and Structure in Conceptual Combination’, Cognitive Psychology 20, pp. 158–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • MervisC. and E.Rosch (1981), ‘Categorization of Natural Objects’, Annual Review of Psychology 32, pp. 89–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • MervisC. B. and E. M.Roth (1980), ‘The Internal Structure of Basic and Non-basic Color Categories’, Language 57, pp. 384–405.

    Google Scholar 

  • MooreJ. H. (1986), “The Ornithology of Cheyenne Religionists’, Plains Anthropologist 31, pp. 177–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • NeisserU., ed. (1987a), Concepts and Conceptual Development, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • NeisserU. (1987b), ‘From Direct Perception to Conceptual Structure’, in U.Neisser, ed., Concepts and Conceptual Development, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 11–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • NeumaierO. (1987), ‘A Wittgensteinian View of Artificial Intelligence’, in R.Bron, ed., Artificial Intelligence: The Case Against, London: Croom Helm, pp. 132–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • NeumaierO. (1989), ‘Mentalismus in der Cognitive Science’, Zeitschrift für philosophishe Forschung 43, pp. 331–346.

    Google Scholar 

  • OshersonD. and E. E.Smith (1981), ‘On the Adequacy of Prototype Theory as a Theory of Concepts’, Cognition 9, pp. 35–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piatelli-PalmariniM., ed. (1980), Language and Learning: The Debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • PlutchikR. and H.Kellerman, eds. (1980), Emotion: Theory, Research and Experience, Vol. 1, New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • PylyshynZ. W., ed. (1987), The Robot's Dilemma, Norwood NJ: Ablex Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • PutnamH. (1978), Meaning and the Moral Sciences, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • PutnamH. (1987), The Many Faces of Realism, La Salle: Open Court.

    Google Scholar 

  • PutnamH. (1988), Representation and Reality, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • QuineW. V. (1990), Pursuit of Truth, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • RatnerC. (1989), ‘A Sociohistorical Critique of Naturalistic Theories of Color Perception’, Journal of Mind & Behavior 10, pp. 361–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • ReyG. (1981), ‘Concepts and Stereotypes’, Cognition 9, pp. 35–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • RortyA. O., ed. (1980), Explaining Emotions, Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • RoschE. (1974), ‘Linguistic Relativity’, in A.Silverstein, ed., Human Communication: Theoretical Explorations, New York: Halsted Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • RoschE. (1975), ‘Cognitive Reference Points’, Cognitive Psychology 7, pp. 532–547.

    Google Scholar 

  • RoschE. and C.Mervis (1975), ‘Family Resemblances’, Cognitive Psychology 7, pp. 573–605.

    Google Scholar 

  • RoschE. (1987), ‘Wittgenstein and Categorization Research in Cognitive Psychology’, in M.Chapman and R. A.Dixon, eds., Meaning and the Growth of Understanding, Berlin: Springer Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • RoschE. (1988), ‘Coherences and Categorization’, in F.Kessel, ed., The Development of Language and Language Researchers, Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 373–392.

    Google Scholar 

  • RothE. and E.Shoben (1983), ‘The Effect of Context on the Structure of Categories’, Cognitive Psychology 15, pp. 346–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudzaka-OstynB., ed. (1988), Topics in Cognitive Linguistics, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • RuseM. and E. O.Wilson (1986), ‘Moral Philosophy as Applied Science’, Philosophy 61, pp. 173–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. A. (1990), ‘Culture and the Classification of Emotions’, forthcoming.

  • SaundersB. A. C. and J.vanBrakel (1988), ‘Re-evaluating Basic Colour Terms’, Cultural Dynamics 1, pp. 359–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • SaundersB. A. C. and J.vanBrakel (1989), ‘On Cross-cultural Colour Semantics’, International Journal of Moral and Social Studies 4, pp. 173–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • SaundersB. A. C. and J.vanBrakel (1991), ‘Against Basic Colour Terms’, in E. E.Corin and G.Bibeau, eds., The Anchorage of the Text, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • SchererK. R. and P.Ekman, eds. (1984), Approaches to Emotion, Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • SchickTh. W. (1989), ‘The Semantic Role of Qualitative Content’, The Southern Journal of Philosophy 27, pp. 125–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • SchifferS. (1986), ‘The Real Trouble with Propositions’, in R. J.Bogdan, ed. (1986), Belief: Form, Content and Function, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • SchwederR. A. and R. A.LeVine, eds. (1984), Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self, and Emotion, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • SmithE. and D.Medin (1981), Categories and Concepts, Cambridge MA: Havard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • StichS. P. (1986), ‘Are Belief Predicates Systematically Ambiguous?’, in R. J.Bogdan, ed., Belief: Form, Content and Function, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • StichS. P. (1989), From Folk Psychology to Cognitive Science, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • TaylorJ. R. (1989), Linguistic Categorization, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 38–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • ThagardP. (1988), Computational Philosophy of Science, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • TsohatsidisS. (1990), Meanings and Prototypes, London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, N. J. (1974), ‘Plant Taxonomic Systems and Ethnobotany of Three Contemporary Indian Groups of the Pacific Northwest (Haida, Bella Coola, and Lillooet)’, Syesis (Canada) 12, Supplement.

  • Turner, N. J., R. Bouchard, and D. I. D. Kennedy (1980), Ethnobotany of the Okanagan-Colville Indians of British Columbia and Washington, British Columbia Provincial Museum Occasional Paper Series, No. 21, Victoria B.C., Canada.

  • Van Brakel, J. (1991), ‘The Plasticity of Categories: The Case of Colour’, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, in press.

  • VanBrakelJ. and J. P. M.Geurts (1988), ‘Pragmatic Identity of Meaning and Metaphor’, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 2, pp. 205–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • WattenmakerW. D., G. V.Nakamura, and D. L.Medin (1988), ‘Relationships Between Similarity-based and Explanation-based Categorization’, in D.Hilton, ed., Contemporary Science and Natural Explanation, Brighton: Harvester Press, pp. 204–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • WinchP. (1987), Trying to Make Sense, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • WittgensteinL. (1967), Zettel, G. E. M.Anscombe and G. H.vonWright, eds., Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • WittgensteinL. (1972), Philosophical Investigations, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • WittgensteinL. (1980), Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology, vol. II, G.H.vonWright and H.Nyman, eds., Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • WolfG. (1989), ‘Malinowski's “Context of Situation”’, Language & Communication 9, pp. 259–267.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Utrecht, P.O. Box 80.103, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    J. Van Brakel

Authors
  1. J. Van Brakel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

This paper was written while on leave at the Department of Philosophy of Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada. A shortened version was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association in Victoria B.C., May 1990.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Van Brakel, J. Meaning, prototypes and the future of cognitive science. Minds and Machines 1, 233–257 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00351180

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00351180

Key words

Search

Navigation