Which Concept of Concept for Conceptual Engineering?

Abstract

Conceptual engineering is the method for assessing and improving our concepts. However, little has been written about how best to conceive of concepts for the purposes of conceptual engineering. In this paper, I aim to fill this foundational gap, proceeding in three main steps: First, I propose a methodological framework for evaluating the conduciveness of a given concept of concept for conceptual engineering. Then, I develop a typology that contrasts two competing concepts of concept that can be used in conceptual engineering—namely, the philosophical and psychological ones. Finally, I evaluate these two concepts of concept using the proposed methodological framework and I show that, when it comes to making conceptual engineering an actionable method, the psychological concept of concept outclasses its philosophical counterpart on all counts. This provides a baseline from which the concept of concept can be further improved for the purposes of conceptual engineering.

Conceptual engineering: A road map to practice

“…Now that we have clarified the process, let us turn to target objects: what is it that conceptual engineers are engineering? This question has recently received a fair amount of attention (Haslanger, 2020a, 2020b; Isaac, 2021a, c; Koch, 2021a; Machery, 2017; Richard, 2020; Sawyer, 2018, 2020a, 2020b, 2021; Scharp, 2013), in part because the notion of a concept is itself a candidate for re‐engineering (Chalmers, 2020; Isaac, 2020; Scharp, 2020; Thomasson, 2020) and partly because a number of authors actively resist the idea that conceptual engineering has much to do with concepts at all (Cappelen, 2018; Flocke, 2020; Nado, 2020, 2021a; Pinder, 2021; Thomasson, 2021; see Nefdt, 2021 and Sawyer, 2020a for criticism). In what follows, we develop a pluralistic response to this issue 9 .…”

“…This type of conceptual content can, but need not, coincide with what we earlier described as a concept's application conditions (cf. Isaac, 2020, 2021a, b, c; Koch, 2021a; Machery, 2017, 2021). Thus, where the conceptual engineer's goal is to alter the unconscious and automatic inferences that people are likely to draw about what they encounter, psychologically construed conceptual content is a plausible target of their endeavors.…”

“… See Brun (2016),Cordes (2020), De Benedotto (2020,Hanna (1968), Griemann (2007,Isaac (2021d),Pinder (2020b), andSiegwart (1997a, b).8 Importantly, according to dynamic accounts, a project may count as an instance of conceptual engineering, even if a process is not necessarily completed. As Chalmers (2020: 4) notes, "[each step] alone is at least a distinctive and important mode of conceptual engineering and conceptual engineering is most powerful when all [four] modes are combined.…”

“…7 7 See Brun (2016), Cordes (2020), De Benedotto (2020), Hanna (1968), Griemann (2007), Isaac (2021d), Pinder (2020b), and Siegwart (1997a, b). …”

Epistemic Paternalism via Conceptual Engineering

“…Concepts, on such an approach, are psychological entities in individual minds and play an important role in cognition (see Machery 2017, ch. 7;Fischer 2020;Isaac 2020;Isaac 2021a;Isaac 2021b;Koch 2021;Machery 2021). The relevant kind of conceptual engineer recognizes the power of concepts over our thought and deliberation, and wants to use that power for the good, including the concept users' own epistemic good, broadly construed.…”