January 1987
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78 Reads
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32 Citations
Research in psychology tends to reflect, sometimes self-consciously, prevailing philosophical viewpoints. Categorization is the area in cognitive psychology which deals with the ancient problem of universals, that is, with the fact that unique particular objects or events can be treated equivalently. Prior to the 1970s, categorization research tended to mirror the simplified worlds described in early Wittgenstein and in logical positivism. However, Wittgenstein’s later philosophy has revolutionary implications for many aspects of human thought, among them issues in categorization. In this paper, I will argue that modern research in natural categories is actually derived from Wittgensteinian insights, but ambivalently so: It has tended to work with the symptoms rather than the root of his challenge.