Can concept analysis really be defended as an empirical method?
In the attack on the simplistic opposition of language and reality, the conclusion could only be that concept analysis not only provides us with information about language, but also with information about the (social) reality. In the analysis of language, experience itself has a part to play from the beginning. The description of a sweetly playing child as a young child completely absorbed in its own activity and, because of that, not asking for attention has, of course, been based on previous observation and not on a description of the rules of language usage. This is an observation that has never been systematically described in writing, but that can be recalled if necessary. In principle, any competent language user is capable of concept analysis, but a successful analysis requires a great deal of life experience, a substantial gift of observation and considerable imaginative powers. Also in the language itself, centuries of experience lie hidden. All in all, in language analysis se
