rkamasam Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 Just want to know in explicit terms, what the requirements of the cognition are? Went through the chapter "cognitive role of concepts" in IOE, but couldn't quite grasp what the requirements of cognition are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidOdden Posted October 30, 2006 Report Share Posted October 30, 2006 Just want to know in explicit terms, what the requirements of the cognition are?Are you asking, what requirements must be satisfied for there to me cognition, or what is required in order for cognitio to .... do something, and the question is what? Please explain your question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkamasam Posted October 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2006 Ayn Rand mentions in the chapter "cognitive role of concepts" that "the descriptive complexity of a given group of existents, the frequency of their use, and the requirements of cognition (of further study) are the main reasons for the formation of new concepts. Of these reasons, the requirements of cognition are the paramount one." This implies that the requirements of cognition make it necessary for us to form new concepts. In this context I wanted to understand the "requirements of cognition." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidOdden Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 What she is saying is that man’s cognition doesn’t operate in terms of arbitrary collections, but works rather in terms of shared similarities and the ability to abstract away from certain (perceptually-founded) differences. In addition, concepts are not cooked up at random, but because they serve a cognitive purpose, for example, having a concept that refers to “three year old reindeer” may not be cognitively useful to you, but it is to some people. Forming a special concept for that serves the purpose of economy and precision (which is a cognitive good). This will be familiar if you’ve ever asked someone to hand you the big metal thingie with the handle and the piece of metal in the middle, and you put these other small tube-like pieces on then, an then you rock it up and down or down and up, depending on whether you’re trying to take the bolt out or put it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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