In Concepts, Kinds, and Cognitive Development, Frank Keil provides a                  coherent account of how concepts and word meanings develop in children, adding to                  our understanding of the representational nature of concepts and word meanings at                  all ages.Keil argues that it is impossible to adequately understand the nature of                  conceptual representation without also considering the issue of learning. Weaving                  together issues in cognitive development, philosophy, and cognitive psychology, he                  reconciles numerous theories, backed by empirical evidence from nominal kinds                  studies, natural-kinds studies, and studies of fundamental categorical distinctions.                  He shows that all this evidence, when put together, leads to a better understanding                  of semantic and conceptual development.The book opens with an analysis of the                  problems of modeling qualitative changes in conceptual development, investigating                  how concepts of natural kinds, nominal kinds, and artifacts evolve.The studies on                  nominal kinds document a powerful and unambiguous developmental pattern indicating a                  shift from a reliance on global tabulations of characteristic features to what                  appears to be a small set of defining ones. The studies on natural kinds document an                  analogous shift toward a core theory instead of simple definition. Both sets of                  studies are strongly supported by cross cultural data.While these patterns seem to                  suggest that the young child organizes concepts according to characteristic                  features, Kell argues that there is a framework of conceptual categories and causal                  beliefs that enables even very young children to understand kinds at a deeper,                  theoretically guided, level. This account suggests a new way of understanding                  qualitative change and carries strong implications for how concepts are represented                  at any point in development.Frank Keil is Professor of Psychology at Cornell                  University and Co Director of the Cognitive Studies Program at Cornell. Concepts,                  Kinds, and Cognitive Development is included in the series Learning, Development,                  and Conceptual Change. A Bradford Book.

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