The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Spare me the complements: an immoderate proposal for eliminating the "we/they" category boundary

Spare me the complements: an immoderate proposal for eliminating the "we/they" category boundary
Spare me the complements: an immoderate proposal for eliminating the "we/they" category boundary
A speculative hypothesis about how to eliminate the "we/they" distinction by rearing children (during early critical years) in "aggregates in flux" instead of in kinship-based families: A category cannot be formed from positive examples only: one must be able to sample both what is and what is not in a category in order to recognise the category at all. The basis for the distinction is the features shared by the members (invariants), and absent from the non-members. In "aggregates in flux," the individual members would be constantly varying (and unrelated, genetically). The only invariant would be that they are all human.
category learning, uncomplemented categories, early experience, socialization, critical period, ethnocentrism, we/they distinction
69-80
Brill
Harnad, Stevan
442ee520-71a1-4283-8e01-106693487d8b
Villaroya, Oscar
Forn i Argimon, Francesc
Harnad, Stevan
442ee520-71a1-4283-8e01-106693487d8b
Villaroya, Oscar
Forn i Argimon, Francesc

Harnad, Stevan (2007) Spare me the complements: an immoderate proposal for eliminating the "we/they" category boundary. In, Villaroya, Oscar and Forn i Argimon, Francesc (eds.) Social Brain Matters: Stances on the Neurobiology of Social Cognition. (Value Inquiry Book Series, 190) Brill, pp. 69-80. (doi:10.1163/9789401204491_008).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

A speculative hypothesis about how to eliminate the "we/they" distinction by rearing children (during early critical years) in "aggregates in flux" instead of in kinship-based families: A category cannot be formed from positive examples only: one must be able to sample both what is and what is not in a category in order to recognise the category at all. The basis for the distinction is the features shared by the members (invariants), and absent from the non-members. In "aggregates in flux," the individual members would be constantly varying (and unrelated, genetically). The only invariant would be that they are all human.

Text
we-they.htm - Other
Download (34kB)
Text
we-they.pdf - Other
Download (63kB)
Text
we-they.doc - Other
Download (50kB)
Text
huma-evan.html - Other
Download (17kB)

More information

Published date: 1 January 2007
Additional Information: Also available on publisher's website: http://www.rodopi.nl/senj.asp?SerieId=CS Presented at: The Social Brain. Biology of conflicts and cooperation World Forum of Cultures: From Conflict to Cooperation. Proposals from the Cognitive Sciences. Barcelona. 17-20 July 2004. http://www.barcelona2004.org/eng/banco_del_conocimiento/dialogos/ficha.cfm?idEvento=164 To appear in: Villaroya, O & Valencia, L. (Eds.)
Keywords: category learning, uncomplemented categories, early experience, socialization, critical period, ethnocentrism, we/they distinction

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 260706
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/260706
PURE UUID: 0812465c-024b-47ed-9c38-3411e9d6e90d
ORCID for Stevan Harnad: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6153-1129

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 30 Mar 2005
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:48

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Stevan Harnad ORCID iD
Editor: Oscar Villaroya
Editor: Francesc Forn i Argimon

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×