1. Family Resemblance Wittgenstein (1953) Wittgenstein (1953) attacked the classical view of category construction and proposed an alternative that later was taken up by the probabilistic view.classical view category probabilistic view He showed how the word “game” has different meanings, and proposed that categorization is based on family resemblance, or similarity.similarity © POSbase 2003Contributor

2. Family Resemblance © POSbase 2003 The concept game is a nice example to show that it is difficult to capture a category by defining features.defining features Sometimes, game includes competition, sometimes not (basketball versus children‘s dance). Some games include luck (Bingo!), others ability (chess). Some games are fun, but we would say that chess is a game even if it is not fun. We play some games in groups (basketball), others alone (computer games).

3. Family Resemblance © POSbase 2003 Wittgenstein used the term as an analogy family resemblance for how categories are constructed. Within a family, members typically may be small, thin, impulsive, and proud. They normally have black hair and dark eyes. However, not every member of the familiy possesses each feature; there are no defining features. Family resemblance is best captured by similarity between individual members (exemplars) and family (category).similarity exemplarscategory