Krulwich-Bruce@cs.yale.edu (Bruce Krulwich) (01/13/89)
In article <179@calmasd.GE.COM>, wlp@calmasd (Walter L. Peterson, Jr.) writes: >Actually, the categorization of penguins and all other birds is quite >easy. Unlike most other taxonomic categories, biologist are in >agreement as to what creatures are members of the Class Aves. All >animals that have feathers are birds and all birds have feathers. >This is not just a "cultural bias" nor is it an arbitrary rule. Maybe a historian on the net can describe studies showing that before the age of biological classification people didn't use the word "bird" to refer to a class of animals. Once biologists decided what a bird was, viola! everyone started to use this wonderful new catagory in their conversations. I'm just waiting for sociologists to define the catagory "friend," so that I can invite some friends to lunch. The point behind the sarcasm is that formal classifications decided by people may mirror the classifications that people use, but are a completely different phenomenon. Just because biologists have an "easy" classification of animals doesn't mean that the catagories that our minds use are the same, or that the process of classification is the same. Lakoff discusses this in detail in his book (WF&DT), and describes studies that show the similarities and differences between formal and cognitive catagories. Bruce Krulwich
colin@pdn.UUCP (Colin Kendall) (01/19/89)
In article <47459@yale-celray.yale.UUCP>, Krulwich-Bruce@cs.yale.edu (Bruce Krulwich) writes: > [...] Once biologists decided what a bird was, viola! [...] Once I decide what this means, flute! -- Colin Kendall Paradyne Corporation {uunet,peora}!pdn!colin Mail stop LF-207 Phone: (813) 530-8697 8550 Ulmerton Road, PO Box 2826 Largo, FL 33294-2826
colin@pdn.UUCP (Colin Kendall) (01/19/89)
In article <47459@yale-celray.yale.UUCP>, Krulwich-Bruce@cs.yale.edu (Bruce Krulwich) writes: > [...]. Once biologists decided what a bird was, viola! [...] Once I decide what this means, flute! -- Colin Kendall Paradyne Corporation {uunet,peora}!pdn!colin Mail stop LF-207 Phone: (813) 530-8697 8550 Ulmerton Road, PO Box 2826 Largo, FL 33294-2826
colin@pdn.UUCP (Colin Kendall) (01/20/89)
In article <47459@yale-celray.yale.UUCP>, Krulwich-Bruce@cs.yale.edu (Bruce Krulwich) writes: > ... Once biologists decided what a bird was, viola! ... Once I decide what this means, flute! -- Colin Kendall Paradyne Corporation {uunet,peora}!pdn!colin Mail stop LF-207 Phone: (813) 530-8697 8550 Ulmerton Road, PO Box 2826 Largo, FL 33294-2826
c60a-2di@e260-2d.berkeley.edu (The Cybermat Rider) (01/21/89)
In article <5410@pdn.UUCP> colin@pdn.UUCP (Colin Kendall) writes: >In article <47459@yale-celray.yale.UUCP>, Krulwich-Bruce@cs.yale.edu (Bruce Krulwich) writes: >> ... Once biologists decided what a bird was, viola! ... > >Once I decide what this means, flute! I know this has absolutely nothing to do with AI, but this article looks STRANGELY FAMILIAR - I seem to remember seeing this posted at least 3 times already! Is anyone else experiencing the same thing? If so, could Mr Kendall please check with his local gurus if there are any problems with posting from his site? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adrian Ho a.k.a. The Cybermat Rider University of California, Berkeley c60a-2di@web.berkeley.edu Disclaimer: Nobody takes me seriously, so is it really necessary?