Conceptual "stretching" revisited: adapting categories in comparative analysis.

Conceptual travelling and conceptual stretching pose problems in the area of comparative analysis especially when the analysis deals with categories. More often than not, researchers succumbed to the practice of using the taxonomic hierarchy when viewing the relation among categories. This leads either to premature exclusion of potentially functional categories or to inappropriate modification of categories. Comparative analysts must make sure that they emphasize description and prescription in their methodological analysis of categories.

Stable concepts and a shared understanding of ...

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