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Cited by 16Embodied and Extended CognitionCybernetics and Technology in SocietyLanguage, Metaphor, and Cognition

Concepts and how they get that way

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Overmann, Karenleigh A.·2019·Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
DOI 10.1007/s11097-017-9545-8

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Abstract

Drawing on the material culture of the Ancient Near East as interpreted through Material Engagement Theory, the journey of how material number becomes a conceptual number is traced to address questions of how a particular material form might generate a concept and how concepts might ultimately encompass multiple material forms so that they include but are irreducible to all of them together. Material forms incorporated into the cognitive system affect the content and structure of concepts through their agency and affordances, the capabilities and constraints they provide as the material component of the extended, enactive mind. Material forms give concepts the tangibility that enables them to be literally grasped and manipulated. As they are distributed over multiple material forms, concepts effectively become independent of any of them, yielding the abstract irreducibility that makes a concept like number what it is. Finally, social aspects of material use—collaboration, ordinariness, and time—have important effects on the generation and distribution of concepts.

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Authors
Overmann, K. A.
Affiliations
University of Colorado Colorado Springs (US)
Corresponding author
Overmann, Karenleigh A.
ORCID
Overmann, Karenleigh A.
Venue
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2017-10-31
Volume
18
Issue
1
Pages
153-168
ISSN
  • 1568-7759 (ISSN-L)
  • 1572-8676
DOI
10.1007/s11097-017-9545-8
OpenAlex
W2766015150
Cited by
16
References
73
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
FWCI
0.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion)
  • SocArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • SocArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
Keywords
material culture, ancient Near East, material engagement theory, concept formation, affordances, extended mind, material agency, social cognition, collaboration, ordinariness, time

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