Michael Ramscar
Department of Artificial Intelligence
University of Edinburgh
Scotland
Abstract
Axiomatic to received psychological theories of categories and
categorisation is the notion that Wittgenstein demonstrated in the
"Philosophical Investigations" that categories are not defined in
terms of necessary and sufficient conditions, but are instead
determined by `family resemblances'. In this paper, I present a new
exegesis of Wittgenstein's account of categorisation, and claim that
far from advocating a theory of `family resemblances' for categories,
Wittgenstein rejected the notion as an empty one, as indeed he
rejected the theoretical utility of determinate psychological accounts
of linguistic categories.