ID No.: 1998HZ67858
NAME OF THE STUDENT: Matthew R. Ellis
DISSERTATION TITLE: The Act of Conceptualization: An Exploration of Concepts and Cognition
ABSTRACT
This dissertation explores the act of conceptualization and its resulting concepts. It will investigate, examine, and analyze what exactly the existence of concepts amounts to. The preliminary preparation will serve to introduce the general terminology and current theories of concepts. Chapter one will discuss the history of concepts, or what has been typically termed “universals” since the time of Plato and will trace the various theories of universals up to modern times. Chapter two claims that concepts are epistemic capacities; they are essentially recognitional capacities, abilities and dispositions as opposed to actual entities. It explores how concepts are at work in cognition, both in non-symbolic and symbolic cognition. Chapter three gives evidence from recent experiments to support the view of concepts as capacities, abilities and dispositions by demonstrating that concepts are neither fixed nor static but are highly variable and context dependent. Chapter four begins by confronting Jerry Fodor’s claim that concepts cannot be recognitional capacities and demonstrates how his argument is ill-founded. The chapter ends in discussing the role that concepts play in conscious observations and consciousness itself.
