Essentialist and family resemblance concept structures differ statistically, not just philosophically.

Evidence

On the face of it, the essentialist and family resemblance structures are quite different and much debate has focused on the differences (e.g., Lakoff 1987; Collier and Levitsky 1997). What is less well known are the empirical and statistical differences between the two. I show that the mathematical properties of these two structures differ in important and coherent ways. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts, 643

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘Your concept choice is a statistical choice’ — why the philosophical debate over concepts is really a debate about measurement error.