Our reconstructions of folk concepts are often influenced by the metaphysical and epistemological doctrines we are committed to.Surprisingly enough,this influence is rarely recognized in definitional debates and has b...Our reconstructions of folk concepts are often influenced by the metaphysical and epistemological doctrines we are committed to.Surprisingly enough,this influence is rarely recognized in definitional debates and has been mostly overlooked in the literature on philosophical definitions.It is frequent for philosophers to act as if only evidential support(for example,our intuitions across real and hypothetical cases)should be considered when choosing between competing reconstructions.This programmatic paper analyzes the interplay between philosophical commitments and evidence in the reconstruction of folk concepts.It also clarifies the precise manner in which metaphysical and epistemological doctrines influence philosophical definitions,why the incidence of metaphysical and epistemological doctrines is rarely recognized,and why theoretically motivated definitions should not be assimilated to the two major forms of definitions recognized in the relevant literature(descriptive and revisionary).展开更多
文摘Our reconstructions of folk concepts are often influenced by the metaphysical and epistemological doctrines we are committed to.Surprisingly enough,this influence is rarely recognized in definitional debates and has been mostly overlooked in the literature on philosophical definitions.It is frequent for philosophers to act as if only evidential support(for example,our intuitions across real and hypothetical cases)should be considered when choosing between competing reconstructions.This programmatic paper analyzes the interplay between philosophical commitments and evidence in the reconstruction of folk concepts.It also clarifies the precise manner in which metaphysical and epistemological doctrines influence philosophical definitions,why the incidence of metaphysical and epistemological doctrines is rarely recognized,and why theoretically motivated definitions should not be assimilated to the two major forms of definitions recognized in the relevant literature(descriptive and revisionary).
