Description

The psychology of concepts has developed into a sophisticated and mature area of research since Eleanor Rosch’s pioneering work in the 1970s (Mervis & Rosch, 1981). The main questions to be investigated are agreed upon, a
number of empirical phenomena are widely accepted, and the lines separating diVerent theoretical positions are well established. In a book reviewing this field (Murphy, 2002), I argued that we have indeed achieved considerable progress in the understanding of concepts. However, that
understanding is largely empirical rather than theoretical.