One possibility is that the height of the fruit-bearing limbs might be such that specimens 2, 5, 7, 12, 13, and 14 (unlike the other smileys) cannot reach the fruit and consequently suffer sharply shorter life spans, increased illness, or microscopic cell anomalies that cannot be seen in the drawings. If investigation supported this hypothesis, then we might now need to regard "short-smileys" as different in kind from "tall-smileys." This distinction exemplifies a point made earlier—that lower-level differences in degree frequently generate differences in kind among functional entities, such as living organisms (
).
As this example illustrates, concept formation is contextual. An expanded context of knowledge may enable us to form valid conceptual distinctions that we could not have made objectively in the past. Note, however, that the original concepts "smiley," "roly-poly," and "boxy" (as well as the concepts of their three measurable attributes) remain valid and retain their original meanings in the new context. Our conceptual framework is merely expanded. 
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