Conceptual progress requires specifying underlying mental mechanisms, not just clearer definitions

Evidence

One could decide to use averaging aggregation and then go back and change the conceptualization and ontology. This is the cart driving the horse. Conceptualization should drive aggregation and measurement, not the other way around. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 943 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sequential descriptive psychology leaves every causal transition unexplained — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1320; A concept lacking mechanistic process descriptions cannot progress scientifically; Methodological convenience, not theory, often determines how concepts get defined — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 943 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Methodological convenience, not theory, often determines how concepts get defined #complicates (0.80) — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 943