title: Eliminating the "concept" concept.
abstract: Machery suggests that the concept of "concept" is too heterogeneous to serve as a "natural kind" for scientific explanation, so cognitive science should do without concepts. I second the suggestion and propose substituting, in place of concepts, inborn and acquired sensorimotor category-detectors and category-names combined into propositions that define and describe further categories.
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada, H3C 3P8. harnad@ugam.ca
authors.forename: Stevan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harnad
mesh_terms: D019336:Cognitive Science; D003210:Concept Formation; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D010465:Perception