We explain what a concept is, how it is formed and various examples. Also, the origin of the term and differences with a definition.
What is a concept?
A concept is a basic mental construction of human reasoning, that is, a mental projection that allows us to understand, classify and communicate our experiences. According to the perspective of many disciplines, it should be understood as the minimum logical unit of knowledge.
The basic concepts, in fact, are the first thing that is acquired when starting a study, since they operate as a support for the more complex knowledge to come. If we want to learn chemistry, we must start with the fundamental chemical concepts, if we want to know literature, the same.
The word concept comes from Latin conceptumderived from the verb concipere (“contain” or “conceive”). Originally, this verb was used for that which was contained within something, such as the mother containing the fetus (in fact, in this case we speak of conception), and with this sense it came to designate mental processes: a conceptum It is something that we have conceived in our mind, that is, something that has been formed within it.
In principle, concepts arise in the development of the human mind as a tool to allow generalization, that is, allow you to manage categories of things and not have to refer to each one individually, also establishing a certain link with the language, or what is the same, a common language, especially in the case of academic disciplines.
However, the relationship between concepts and words is always problematic and diffuse, especially when subjectivities are taken into consideration, since the association between a word and a concept is not universal.
See also: Idea
Concept and definition
Although they can be used as synonyms in colloquial language, it is not advisable to confuse what a concept is (a mental image of a reality) with a definition: the description of the senses or meanings of a given term, that is, of a lexical unit. . While Concepts are abstract cognitive units, definitions exist within the scope of language. and of a specific language.
Thus, for example, dictionaries contain definitions: uses of words, which can be expanded over time, vary in different senses or in different geographies, and which always refer to the word as a starting point.
On the other hand, concepts are generalizations that exist independently of the word used to describe them: a chemical reaction is a concept that corresponds to some words, but that can also be called “chemical process”, varying its lexical unit without altering its abstract sense.
Concept formation
The formation of concepts in the human mind is a matter of specialized debate and discussion among academics and experts. However, in very general terms it is assumed that the process occurs in the following way:
- A reality is perceived concrete through the senses.
- An abstraction is made of what is perceived and its basic qualities are obtained.
- What is perceived is associated with other preexisting concepts to determine your category.
- The new concept is incorporated to knowledge through generalization.
Thus, for example, if we see a stone fall, we can abstract the concept of “falling” from the experience, associating it with the experience of other objects that we have seen do the same, and with other types of perceived movements.
Examples of concepts
From the point of view of logic, concepts do not express any type of predicate, beyond their characteristics or their essence, that is, they do not affirm anything regarding whether they are true or false, since they do not have a predicate. Therefore, they correspond to the minimum parts of an idea (or a proposition), such as:
- Fear
- Dog
- Fall
- Human
- Moral
- Sensible
- Good
- Evil
- Fly
- Planet
Continue with: Concept map
References
- “Concept” in Wikipedia.
- “Concept” in the Dictionary of the language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Concept” in Filosofía.org.
- “Concept” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
