Below you will find several theoretical questions about concepts. For each item. indicate whether you agree or disagree, according to your preferred theoretical position. There are only two alternatives!

CONCEPT CONCEPT INVENTORY

Questions

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	Yes	No
1. Do concepts exist?
2. Do concepts exist independently of the activity of the human mind?
3. Are concepts inside the heads (brains) of individuals?
4. Are concepts mental representations?
5. Are concepts mental images?
6. Are concepts linguistic representations?
7. Are concepts prototypes or exemplars?
8. Are concepts abstract objects that have no material properties?
9. Are concepts private or subjective – i.e. each person has his or her own concepts which may be more or less similar (but not identical) to those of others?
10. Are concepts public – i.e. can the same concept be shared by more than one individual?
11. Are concepts first and foremost entities that can be used to categorize the world of experience?
12. Are concepts first and foremost entities that can be used refer to entities in the physical world?
13. Are concepts first and foremost entities that make rational thinking about abstract objects possible?
14. Does concept possession for putative natural kind concepts (e.g. having the concept CAT) entail ability to discriminate the object (being able to tell whether something is a cat or not)?
15. Are norms governing the proper application of a concept based on the concept use of the individual?
16. Are norms governing the proper application of a concept based on the concept use of the language community?
17. If a lay person uses a concept of gravity or a concept of energy, is he using the concepts of gravity and energy of physical theory?
18. If a physical sciences uses a concept of gravity or a concept of energy, is he using the concepts of gravity and energy of physical theory?
19. Does concept possession for abstract concepts (e.g having the concept RECURSION) entail ability to discriminate the object (telling whether a definition or a computational operation is “recursive”)?
20. Are (some) concepts innate?
21. Are (all) concepts culturally transmitted and learned?
22. Are folk concepts qualitatively different from scientific concepts?
23. Is there a gradual continuum between folk concepts and scientific concepts?
24. Are (some) scientific concept such that no single individual can fully grasp them?
25. Do folk concepts form a coherent ontological taxonomy of the world?
26. Is having concepts a uniquely human capability (not found in any other animals)?
27. Is a natural language (Finnish, English, Greek…) necessary for concept possession?
28. Is some type of symbol language (arithmetic using Arabic numerals, Prolog, first order predicate logic…) necessary for concept possession?
29. Are concepts concrete symbols that represent (causal or abstract) relations?
30. Do (all) concepts have internal structure?
31. Must (all) concepts always have conceptual/inferential relations to other concepts? (Or is it possible to possess isolated or fragmented concepts?)
32. Are concepts productive? (I.e. can an endless number of new complex concepts be created from existing concepts, by some operation of concept combination?)
33. Are concepts compositional? (I.e. is the identity of a concept determined “without residue” from its constituent parts and their mode of combination).
34. Are some concepts related a priori?
35. Are all relations among concepts a posteriori – determined empirically?

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CONCEPT CONCEPT INVENTORY

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