Well, I guess that by “subjective concepts”, I mean every concept that doesn’t have a formal mathematical definition. So stuff like “simple”, “similar”, “beautiful”, “alive”, “dead”, “feline”, and so on through the entire dictionary.
The only theory-of-subjective-concepts I’ve come across is the example of bleggs and rubes. Suppose that, among a class of objects, five binary variables are strongly correlated with each other; then it is useful to postulate a latent variable stating which of two types the object is. This latent variable is the “subjective concept” in this case.
Think of subjective concepts as heuristics that help you describe models of the world. Evaluate those models based on their predictions. (Grounding everything in terms of predictions is a great way to keep your thinking focused. Otherwise it’s too easy to go on and on about beauty or whatever without ever saying anything that actually controls your anticipations.)
“Subjective” seems uselessly broad. Can you give a more specific example?
Well, I guess that by “subjective concepts”, I mean every concept that doesn’t have a formal mathematical definition. So stuff like “simple”, “similar”, “beautiful”, “alive”, “dead”, “feline”, and so on through the entire dictionary.
The only theory-of-subjective-concepts I’ve come across is the example of bleggs and rubes. Suppose that, among a class of objects, five binary variables are strongly correlated with each other; then it is useful to postulate a latent variable stating which of two types the object is. This latent variable is the “subjective concept” in this case.
Think of subjective concepts as heuristics that help you describe models of the world. Evaluate those models based on their predictions. (Grounding everything in terms of predictions is a great way to keep your thinking focused. Otherwise it’s too easy to go on and on about beauty or whatever without ever saying anything that actually controls your anticipations.)
Have you read the rest of 37 Ways That Words Can Be Wrong?