CONCEPTUAL SPACE
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 594 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
The domain open to search, research and creation as delimited by existing mental constraints.
This notion, developed by M. BODEN in her inquiry in natural and artificial intelligence, is closely related to the paradigm concept. To any conceptual space corresponds a system of generative rules (or a generative system) that defines the possible research space. In M. BODEN's terms, it is a kind of “map … used to generate an indefinite number of very useful ”coulds“ and ”cannots“ (1990, p.47).
(BODEN's generative rules seem to be very close to FRITZ' actuation rules).
Or: “… a conceptual space (or a family of neighbouring conceptual spaces), whose potential is both created and limited by the constraints concerned” (p.158).
In a conceptual space, congruences are established in accordance with the ordering constraints.
Should the generative system be modified, the conceptual space would be to. This happens for example when one emigrates into another culture, or start to work in a different discipline. M. BODEN states: “The deeper the change in the generative system, the more different — and less immediately intelligible — is the corresponding conceptual space” (p.81).
The conceptual space is progressively acquired through learning and ends up with a kind of autopoietic mental closure, which however implies the previous internalization of simpler competences and maps, i.e. ordering constraints. In M. BODEN's words: “These representations arise on several succesive levels, each time enabling the person to exploit the prior knowledge in ways that were not possible before. The person progresses from one skill that is fluent but automatic (being varied only with much effort and little success) to one that can be altered in many ways” (p.64).
The subject is closely related to the “creativity” one.