Is love an abstract concept?

A view of concepts from an interaction-based perspective: Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi and Julian Zubek (2022). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 26 December. Abstract:

"Research concerning concepts in the cognitive sciences has been dominated by the information-processing approach, which has resulted in a certain narrowing of the range of questions and methods of investigation. Recent trends have sought to broaden the scope of such research, but they have not yet been integrated within a theoretical framework that would allow us to reconcile new perspectives with the insights already obtained. In this paper, we focus on the processes involved in early concept acquisition and demonstrate that certain aspects of these processes remain largely understudied. These aspects include the primacy of movement and coordination with others within a structured social environment as well as the importance of first-person experiences pertaining to perception and action. We argue that alternative approaches to cognition, such as ecological psychology, enactivism and interactivism, are helpful for foregrounding these understudied areas. These approaches can complement the extant research concerning concepts to help us obtain a more comprehensive view of knowledge structures, thus providing us with a new perspective on recurring problems, suggesting novel questions and enriching our methodological toolbox."

From the section on conceptual hierarchies:

 

"The same objects can be recognized as members of different categories and as involving different concepts. [...] What remains significant with respect to basic-level categories according to our theoretical perspective is that there are different possible paths that can be taken to acquire category hierarchies."

 

From the conclusion:

 

"The approach explicated here may allow cognitive science to become more sensitive to the idiosyncrasy of human experience. The three tenets discussed make more evident the way in which, within culturally sanctioned habits (as stabilized by conventionalized linguistic expressions or routines), each individual may embody a different pattern of relations/dependencies, which might be prone to different organizations. Focusing on one pattern or another may testify to its frequency, usefulness and systemic coherence; however, it also testifies to the power and privilege inherent in the ability to access the means of making some concepts and patterns dominant, thereby appropriating certain conceptual orders. Culturally established lines may thus be imposed on and overpower felt relations."