This lecture introduces theories of concepts, exploring how words relate to mental representations. It begins by examining the Image Theory and the Classical Theory (Necessary and Sufficient Conditions) as explanations for what constitutes a concept, highlighting their respective limitations.
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hello everyone and welcome back to
another a lecture on semantics our topic
for today is theories of concepts if you
recall from our previous lecture we
discussed the semiotic triangle we also
discussed under the notion of reference
that there were two theories a reference
one was the notational Theory in the
other was the representational theory
the representational theory suggests
that the word or linguistic expression
means a sense or a concept a mental
representation that we have in our minds
our task for today is to identify or
understand in greater detail what this
concept is now there are several
theories that talk about what the
concept is what it contains that will be
our topic for today stay tuned so when
it comes identifying what a concept is
there are four major theories first is
the image theory second we will discuss
it called the classical theory third we
will discuss is called the causal theory
and the fourth one we will discuss is
called the prototype theory let's begin
with the first one the image theory now
the image theory is quite simple in its
tenets basically what that image theory
suggests that when a linguistic
expression is utter say the word dog the
concept we think of is an actual image
say this image for instance and of
course you know the rest it is this
image that helps us determine which
object in the world is an instance of
dog but of course right away you can see
some of the problems that can arise from
taking our concept or our sense of the
word dog to be an actual image so right
off the bat you can imagine that people
will have different images in their
minds about what constitutes a dog what
is a dog is it something like his
picture or like this or this or even
this not only that but if we were all to
agree on the first one
on this picture that this is what
represents a dot then how are we to say
that this is also a dog when it doesn't
look very much like the first picture if
we were to take the image theory and
even in the best case scenario where we
were to agree on one image for dog it
will be very difficult to include other
types of dogs into the category dog this
theory then clearly has its shortcomings
so let's put this theory aside for now
we'll start now with the classical
theory now the classical theory has
another name for it which is the
necessary and sufficient conditions
theory what do we mean by the necessary
and sufficient conditions well under
this classical theory when we say the
word dog the sense in our minds of the
word dog is not an image like the image
theory but rather a list of conditions
that the dog must meet in order to be an
actual dog in the real world this list
of conditions may be something like this
a dog must be plus animal plus four legs
- gills for example that it doesn't
breathe underwater
okay so this is just an example but
that's basically how it would go and
then every time you say the word dog and
you want to identify if this word you
notice the actual dog you see in the
real world you will use this list of
necessary and sufficient conditions to
determine whether what you see in the
real world is a dog or not is it a
member of the category dog or not this
is going to be based on these conditions
again we can still see some problems
though even with the necessary in the
sufficient conditions theory or the
classical theory and that is that people
do not tend to agree upon all of the
necessary and sufficient conditions the
second problem is that how much of these
necessary and sufficient conditions must
we agree upon in order
to understand each other these things
are not clear take for example the word
gold what can gold denote in the real
world well we're gonna have to have the
meaning of gold for the imitation of
gold being mediated by our concept but
here's the thing
this concept is going to be different
for each and every speaker so for an
ordinary person gold might be plus metal
plus expensive plus yellowish and plus
shiny now I'm sure a lot of things in
the world fit this description how come
we still are able to understand what
gold is not only that but a person
mining for gold or a chemist might have
a different idea of what gold is so
scientists might think of gold's density
or the number of atoms or if it could be
bent and shaped or not they surely won't
be taking our simple definition of
something goal of something of a gold
color and shiny so really the main
problem with the classical theory is
that there's no room for fuzziness what
do we mean by fuzziness we mean that
sometimes it's not very clear or a
clear-cut distinction between either you
are part of this category or not
sometimes things are in a gray area and
we are still able to understand it this
theory looks at things in a more like a
0 or 1 relationship you're either an
instance of something or you're not for
example plus think up the category bird
now the category bird under the
necessary and sufficient conditions
could be + animal loss fly that I can
fly plus feathers right so these are the
basic things we think of when we think
of bird now think of a canary is a
canary a good example of bird is it a
bird under this definition well yes it's
an animal check it can fly it has
feathers but what about a chicken well
the chickens an animal
feathers but it doesn't fly under the
necessary and sufficient conditions
theory or the classical theory chicken
is not a bird what about penguin the
penguin is an animal but it doesn't have
feathers but they do not fly actually
penguins swim they're actually very good
swimmers so again under this theory
penguins are not birds so you can see
there that fuzziness or accepting fuzzy
members is a real problem for the
classical theory let's move on to the
next one
so now we can throw the classical theory
out the window as well stay tuned for
our next lecture in which we're going to
discuss the causal theory and the
prototype theory see you there you
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