Abstract
A coherent and plausible picture of human concept learning is arising from combining biological, behavioral, computational, and linguistic insights. This account is similar in form to the solution to another biological question—a question for which the answer is now understood in great detail. That is the question of immunology. Animal immune systems are remarkably good at generating antibodies to combat novel antigens that invade the body. The raging question used to be whether this is a process where the killer antibody is selected from a fixed innate repertoire or whether the system somehow manufactures a custom antibody, instructed by the intruder. The full answer is beyond the scope of this chapter (and our knowledge) but the basic idea is clear. The immune system works because of a large number of primitive molecules that, in combination, can cover an astronomical number of possible antigens.
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