Conceptual Engineering: A Footnote to Plato
于History of Philosophy & Logical AnalysisSearch for other papers by Scott Berman in
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Abstract
If concepts are to what the predicates in our language refer, then Plato would say that concepts are nonspatiotemporal entities, called “Forms,” and as such cannot be created, changed, or destroyed. Thus, if conceptual engineering requires that concepts can be created or changed, then Plato could not accurately be called a conceptual engineer. On the other hand, Plato did think that we can create or change the sights and sounds we use as tools by means of our shared thinking which refer to those unchanging concepts. Those sights and sounds are the symbols, that is, the written and spoken language, that we use in order to communicate with one another about the things that exist. Plato, then, thought of a shared language as an educated guess about the way the world in fact is. We agree to use those symbols because we have good reasons to believe that the closer our shared language is to the way the world in fact is, the more beneficial using that language will be for us in accomplishing our ultimate goal of having the best life we can possibly have. Therefore, if concepts are not to what the predicates in our language refer, but instead, are the educated guesses as to what those eternally unchanging Forms are, then Plato would be a conceptual engineer par excellence as he did think that we can and do create and revise our educated guesses as we learn more about the way the world in fact is.
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Plato, Gorgias. Zeyl, D. (tr.), 1987. Indianapolis: Hackett.
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Chalmers, D. J. 2021. What is conceptual engineering and what should it be? Inquiry, 1–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2020.1817141.
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Thomasson, A. 2021. Conceptual Engineering: when do we need it? How can we do it? Inquiry, 1–26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2021.2000118.
| 全部期间 | 过去一年 | 过去30天 | |
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Conceptual Engineering: A Footnote to Plato
于History of Philosophy & Logical AnalysisSearch for other papers by Scott Berman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
If concepts are to what the predicates in our language refer, then Plato would say that concepts are nonspatiotemporal entities, called “Forms,” and as such cannot be created, changed, or destroyed. Thus, if conceptual engineering requires that concepts can be created or changed, then Plato could not accurately be called a conceptual engineer. On the other hand, Plato did think that we can create or change the sights and sounds we use as tools by means of our shared thinking which refer to those unchanging concepts. Those sights and sounds are the symbols, that is, the written and spoken language, that we use in order to communicate with one another about the things that exist. Plato, then, thought of a shared language as an educated guess about the way the world in fact is. We agree to use those symbols because we have good reasons to believe that the closer our shared language is to the way the world in fact is, the more beneficial using that language will be for us in accomplishing our ultimate goal of having the best life we can possibly have. Therefore, if concepts are not to what the predicates in our language refer, but instead, are the educated guesses as to what those eternally unchanging Forms are, then Plato would be a conceptual engineer par excellence as he did think that we can and do create and revise our educated guesses as we learn more about the way the world in fact is.
| 全部期间 | 过去一年 | 过去30天 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 摘要浏览次数 | 242 | 242 | 12 |
| 全文浏览次数 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| PDF下载次数 | 26 | 26 | 0 |
