Concepts and Categories: How We Structure the World

Catalog description

Humans have a strong tendency to group and divide objects, people, emotions, and events into different concepts and categories. These seemingly effortless acts pose fundamental questions about our understanding of the self and the nature of the world. This course examines texts from history, literature, philosophy, and scientific sources to ask why we conceptualize the world in particular ways, whether any categories are fundamental, and the degree to which concepts and categories are innate or learned. From the conceptual taxonomies proposed as fundamental from thinkers such as Aristotle and Kant, to the findings from psychology and neuroscience that inform us about our predilections for object concepts and social groups, students will reflect on what this knowledge can tell us about the forces that shape self and society.