Classification enables thought but does not itself constitute understanding.

Evidence

Categorization is a prerequisite for human thinking for it gives meaning to new experiences. It also facilitates learning and guides people’s adjustments to the social world. By abstracting sensory inputs, categorization allows individuals to quickly interpret, and react to, their environment. The act of categorization, however, deprives people of the ability to perceive some aspects of the world: stimuli can be assimilated to the category only if their peculiarities are overlooked. Here resides the dual nature of categorization: “Categorical thinking is a natural and inevitable tendency of the human mind” and “has property of guiding daily adjustments” (Allport, 1954/ 1979, pp.170–1), but it also impoverishes experiences and leads to a host of perceptual, judgmental, and memory biases. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1154 (#expands, via linked claim)

The act of categorization, however, deprives people of the ability to perceive some aspects of the world: stimuli can be assimilated to the category only if their peculiarities are overlooked. Here resides the dual nature of categorization: “Categorical thinking is a natural and inevitable tendency of the human mind” and “has property of guiding daily adjustments” (Allport, 1954/ 1979, pp.170–1), but it also impoverishes experiences and leads to a host of perceptual, judgmental, and memory biases. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1154 (#expands, via linked claim)

One of Allport’s most provocative and inspiring ideas was that stereotyping is grounded in a basic, unavoidable, categorization process. People are not capable of thought in the absence of concepts. New experiences remain meaningless unless they are incorporated into preexisting categories. Open-mindedness, Allport noted, “is considered to be a virtue. But strictly speaking, it cannot occur. A new experience must be redacted into old categories” (1954/1979, p. 20). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1151 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Concepts are tools for dominating nature, not for understanding it — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 52; Humans cannot think without categorizing; even open-mindedness requires old categories. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1151; Categorization enables thought but inevitably blurs the individual features it generalizes. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1154 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Categorization simultaneously enables and impoverishes human perception and judgment. #expands (0.88) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1154
• Humans cannot think without categorizing; even open-mindedness requires old categories. #corroborates (0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1151
• Categorization enables thought but inevitably blurs the individual features it generalizes. #expands (0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1154
• Open-mindedness is impossible because thought requires preexisting categories #corroborates (0.82)
• The non-identical can only be approached through concepts without being subsumed #complicates (0.80) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1242
• Merely labeling people with arbitrary categories enables essentialist explanations #exemplifies (0.75)
• Neuroscientific findings remain inert without a new understanding of self #corroborates (0.75) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 219