The cognitive role of concept variability
Mind & Language / Mind and Language
Published online on February 01, 2026
Abstract
["Mind &Language, Volume 41, Issue 1, Page 66-87, February 2026. ", "\nI present and defend concept variability, the view that concepts can admit of indefinitely many variations and changes in their representational contents without thereby losing their identity. I argue that the variability of concepts is central to their role in enabling cognition, and thus that a concept's content variability is, despite philosophical orthodoxy to the contrary, a feature of our cognitive architecture and not a bug.\n"]