Hisashi Oshima on prototypes and knowledge structure

Hisashi Oshima’s view supports the concept of prototype and the theory of collation of Unification Epistemology. Oshima states the following: “During our long-time contact and interaction with the environment, we come to form numerous prototypes in our mind. The structure of our knowledge is built centering on those proto-types…. Knowledge has a structure in which, centering on prototypes, things are ordered…. When we try to understand someone’s speech, we compare and collate it with the knowledge that is structured in this way. The portions that accord with it are integrated in the structure of knowledge, but those that do not accord are not understood, and even if they appear somehow to be understood, in reality they will be misunderstood.” The Science of Knowledge (in Japanese) (Tokyo: Shinyosha, 1986), 68-69.