Digital Mind 🧠

đŸȘ” The Threshold

Concept indicators differ in whether they define, reveal, or cause a phenomenon

Properties2
tagsja-picks, define, xref, addendum, definitional_content, primary_study, singleton, recurring, category/definitional-content
aliases@bleich_what_2011, loc. 45

3 min read

Concept indicators differ in whether they define, reveal, or cause a phenomenon

Evidence

To clarify some of these distinctions, it is helpful to draw on Goertz’s (2006, pp. 27-28, 57-59, 64-65) discussion of the “disease–symptom” metaphor of concept indicators. To give a concrete example from the medical world, if the disease is cirrhosis, the secondary level definition of the concept is scarring of the liver. If we biopsy a liver and find scar tissue, this is not because (a) cirrhosis causes scarring, nor is it because (b) scarring causes cirrhosis, but rather it is because (c) liver scarring is cirrhosis—it is a noncausal indicator of the disease. There are, however, also (Type 1) symptoms of cirrhosis that function as indicators of the underlying condition, although these vary widely in their ability to reveal the disease. Some are indirect, such as nausea, lack of appetite, weight loss, and tiredness—problems associated with a wide number of illnesses. Some are much more directly correlated with cirrhosis, such as jaundice. Jaundice may in fact reveal another liver-related disease such as hepatitis, but it is a more direct indicator than many other symptoms because it has a higher probability of revealing a problem with the liver and potentially of cirrhosis. At the other end of the spectrum are indicators associated with cirrhosis that may themselves be (Type 2) causes of the disease, such as alcohol abuse, cystic fibrosis, or too much copper in the liver. — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is
, 45

Categorization

  • DEFINE: The disease-symptom typology distinguishes noncausal definitional indicators from causal and symptom indicators — a key concept-formation tool.
  • XREF: This is the concept-formation machinery Bleich will apply to Islamophobia — contrasts sharply with Runnymede’s ‘open vs closed views’ framing. — connects to: Misusing a concept’s level of abstraction produces serious theoretical error.; Concept indicators relate to their concepts as causes, effects, or constitutive definitions — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is
, 45; Indicator-concept relations split into causal, caused, and constitutive types — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is
, 44 (+1 more)
  • ADDENDUM: Clarifies how a concept (like Islamophobia) can be defined at secondary level rather than reduced to its observable indicators — relevant to how definitions are politically contested.
  • recurring: this claim recurs 4 times within its source

Broader Connections

✉

Backlinks