THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE THEORY ANALOGY IN THE PSYCHOLOGICAL-STUDY OF CONCEPTS

Many psychologists think that concepts should be understood on analogy with the terms of scientific theories, yet the significance of this c laim has always been obscure. In this paper, I clarify the psychologic al content of the theory analogy, focusing on influential pieces by Su san Carey. Once plainly put, the analogy amounts to the view that a me ntal representation has its semantical properties by virtue of its rol e in a restricted knowledge structure. One of the commendable things a bout Carey's work is that, unlike many other psychologists who appeal to the theory analogy, she takes seriously the need to specify how the se structures are constrained. At the same time, the constraints she o ffers are insufficient. Her account also faces challenges from recent work in the semantics of natural kind terms.