Concepts as Flexible and Context-dependent Sets: the two-tiered view
Ryszard S. Michalski · 1991
This paper discusses a new approach to this problem that overcomes some of the weaknesses of other representations. This new approach, called the two-tiered (IT) concept representation, considers human concepts not as fixed, well-defined structures, but as flexible, context-modifiable and background-knowledge-dependent units of our knowledge. To represent concepts so understood, the TT view recommends splitting the total concept representation into two components ("tiers"), an explicit one that defines the most stable concept properties, and an implicit one, that handles rare or exceptional cases and context-dependency of a concept. The latter component consists of flexible procedures for matching the concepts with instances, and a body of rules for characterizing concept variability in different contexts and situations