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Artifacts and essentialism.

Susan A Gelman1

  • 1University of Michigan.

Review of Philosophy and Psychology
|August 27, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Psychological essentialism, the belief in hidden essences, applies to artifacts through their history, influencing authenticity and value judgments. This challenges purely functional or similarity-based views of artifact concepts.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Philosophy of Mind

Background:

  • Psychological essentialism is the intuitive belief that categories possess underlying, non-observable essences determining their properties.
  • This belief is commonly applied to natural kinds but less explored in artifact concepts.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To extend the concept of psychological essentialism to artifact categories.
  • To investigate the role of object history in artifact concepts, particularly in judgments of authenticity and ownership.

Main Methods:

  • Review of empirical evidence supporting the application of essentialism to artifacts.
  • Conceptual analysis of how object history functions analogously to natural kind essences.

Main Results:

  • Object history, including provenance and personal significance, acts as a non-obvious feature in artifact concepts.
  • Artifact history can be perceived as having causal effects on artifacts, similar to natural kind essences.
  • Artifact concepts require frameworks beyond mere similarity or function, incorporating historical context.

Conclusions:

  • Psychological essentialism is applicable to artifact concepts, with object history playing a crucial role.
  • The study of essentialism may benefit from domain-general perspectives rather than being solely rooted in folk biology.
  • Artifact concepts are shaped by a combination of intrinsic properties and their unique histories.