Identifying and counting objects: The role of sortal concepts

Cognition
Nick Leonard, Lance J Rips

Abstract

Sortal terms, such as table or horse, are nouns akin to basic-level terms. According to some theories, the meaning of sortals provides conditions for telling objects apart (individuating objects, e.g., telling one table from a second) and for identifying objects over time (e.g., determining that a particular table at one time is the same table at another). A number of psychologists have proposed that sortal concepts likewise provide psychologically real conditions for individuating and identifying things. However, this paper reports five experiments that cast doubt on these psychological claims. Experiments 1-3 suggest that sortal concepts do not determine when an object ceases to exist and therefore do not decide when the object can no longer be identical to a later one. Experiments4-5 similarly suggest that sortal concepts do not provide determinate conditions for individuating objects. For example, they do not always decide whether a room contains one table or two. All five experiments feature ordinary objects undergoing ordinary changes.

References

Apr 1, 1996·Cognitive Psychology·F Xu, S Carey
Mar 1, 2002·Cognition·Sandeep PrasadaTodd Haskell
Aug 12, 2004·Cognitive Psychology·Fei XuNina Quint
Feb 16, 2006·Psychological Review·Lance J RipsGeorge Newman
Aug 19, 2007·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·Fei Xu
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Feb 28, 2009·Memory & Cognition·Mijke Rhemtulla, D Geoffrey Hall
Mar 31, 2015·Psychological Bulletin·Lance J Rips, Susan J Hespos

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Citations

Nov 10, 2020·Cognitive Science·Lance J Rips

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