Speaker: Fabrizio Cariani (University of Maryland, College Park)
Date and Time: Friday, April 24th 2026, 16:00-17:30
Venue: ILLC Seminar Room F1.15, Science Park 107 and online.
Title: The structure of multidimensional concepts.
Abstract. Recent work in philosophy and cognitive science has brought renewed attention to multidimensional concepts and properties such as healthy, biodiverse, intelligent and democratic. In this paper, we take steps toward a comprehensive theory of them. Much of the existing literature treats multidimensionality piecemeal, isolating particular features. Most prominent among them is the fact that such concepts appear to involve forms of aggregation structurally akin to those studied in social choice theory. While these insights are illuminating, they stop short of explaining why multidimensional concepts exhibit the structural features they do. Our aim is to embed these familiar modules within a unified framework that accounts for their characteristic patterns in a principled way. With our account in place, we argue that influential proposed solutions to longstanding puzzles about multidimensional concepts cannot be sustained.