TY - JOUR
T1 - Kovesi and the Formal and Material Elements of Concepts
AU - Mooney, T.B.
AU - Williams, John N.
AU - Nowacki, Mark
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - In his seminal work Moral Notions, Julius Kovesi presents a novel account of concept formation. At the heart of this account is a distinction between what he terms the material element and the formal element of concepts. This paper elucidates his distinction in detail and contrasts it with other distinctions such as form-matter, universal-particular, genus-difference, necessary-sufficient, and open texture-closed texture. We situate Kovesi's distinction within his general philosophical method, outlining his views on concept formation in general and explain how his theory of concept formation is applied in moral philosophy.
AB - In his seminal work Moral Notions, Julius Kovesi presents a novel account of concept formation. At the heart of this account is a distinction between what he terms the material element and the formal element of concepts. This paper elucidates his distinction in detail and contrasts it with other distinctions such as form-matter, universal-particular, genus-difference, necessary-sufficient, and open texture-closed texture. We situate Kovesi's distinction within his general philosophical method, outlining his views on concept formation in general and explain how his theory of concept formation is applied in moral philosophy.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-81855174479&doi=10.1007%2fs11406-011-9305-x&partnerID=40&md5=bd21880851132cb4b2ebdf06b98cf9a1
U2 - 10.1007/s11406-011-9305-x
DO - 10.1007/s11406-011-9305-x
M3 - Article
VL - 39
SP - 699
EP - 720
JO - Philosophia
JF - Philosophia
SN - 0048-3893
IS - 4
ER -