Is love an abstract concept? A view of concepts from an interaction-based perspective.
Joanna Rączaszek-leonardi, Julian Zubek
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences December 26, 2022 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0356 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Humans Love Concept formation Cognitive science Knowledge Concepts Ecological psychology Social interaction Embodied cognition |
| Key points | Argues that early concept acquisition research has largely overlooked the primacy of movement, coordination with others in structured social environments, and first-person experiences of perception and action. Proposes that ecological psychology, enactivism and interactivism can complement existing concept research, yielding a more comprehensive view of knowledge structures, new perspectives on recurring problems, novel questions and expanded methods. |
Abstract
Research concerning concepts in the cognitive sciences has been dominated by the information-processing approach, which has resulted in a certain narrowing of the range of questions and methods of investigation. Recent trends have sought to broaden the scope of such research, but they have not yet been integrated within a theoretical framework that would allow us to reconcile new perspectives with the insights already obtained. In this paper, we focus on the processes involved in early concept acquisition and demonstrate that certain aspects of these processes remain largely understudied. These aspects include the primacy of movement and coordination with others within a structured social environment as well as the importance of first-person experiences pertaining to perception and action. We argue that alternative approaches to cognition, such as ecological psychology, enactivism and interactivism, are helpful for foregrounding these understudied areas. These approaches can complement the extant research concerning concepts to help us obtain a more comprehensive view of knowledge structures, thus providing us with a new perspective on recurring problems, suggesting novel questions and enriching our methodological toolbox. This article is part of the theme issue 'Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences'.