Carving joints into nature: reengineering scientific concepts in light of concept-laden evidence |
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| Institution: | 1. Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA;2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA;1. Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada;2. Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK;1. Department of Experimental Psychology & All Souls College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;1. Department of Neuroscience and Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA;2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA;1. University of Tübingen, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany;1. State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China;2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China;3. IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China;4. Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China;1. School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK;2. Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany |
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| Abstract: | A new wave of proposals suggests that scientists must reassess scientific concepts in light of accumulated evidence. However, reengineering scientific concepts in light of data is challenging because scientific concepts affect the evidence itself in multiple ways. Among other possible influences, concepts (i) prime scientists to overemphasize within-concept similarities and between-concept differences; (ii) lead scientists to measure conceptually relevant dimensions more accurately; (iii) serve as units of scientific experimentation, communication, and theory-building; and (iv) affect the phenomena themselves. When looking for improved ways to carve nature at its joints, scholars must take the concept-laden nature of evidence into account to avoid entering a vicious circle of concept-evidence mutual substantiation. |
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