ConceptA. From WikipediaA concept is an abstraction or generalisation from experience or the result of a transformation of existing ideas.The concept is instantiated (reified) by all of its actual or potential instances, whether these are things in the real world or other ideas. Concepts are treated in many if not most disciplines both explicitly, such asin linguistics, psychology, philosophy, etc., and implicitly, such asin mathematics, physics, etc. In informal use the word concept often just meansany idea, but formally it involves the abstraction component.When the mind makes a generalization such as the concept of tree, it extractssimilarities from numerous examples; the simplification enables higher-levelthinking.In metaphysics, and especially ontology, a concept is a fundamental category of existence. In contemporary philosophy, there are at least three prevailing ways to understand what a concept is:∙Concepts as mental representations, where concepts are entities that exist in the brain (mental objects)∙Concepts as abilities, where concepts are abilities peculiar to cognitive agents (mental states)∙Concepts as Fregean senses (see sense and reference), where concepts are abstract objects, as opposed to mental objects and mental statesEmbodied contentMain article: Embodied cognitionIn cognitive linguistics, abstract concepts are transformations of concrete concepts derived from embodied experience. The mechanism of transformation is is structural mapping, in which properties of two or more source domains are selectively mapped onto a blended space (Fauconnier & Turner, 1995;see conceptual blending). A common class of blends are metaphors.Abstract objectsMain article: Abstract objectIn a platonist theory of mind, concepts are construed as abstract objects. This debate concerns the ontological status of concepts – what they are really like.In the simplest terms, a concept is a name or label that regards or treats an abstraction as if it had concrete or material existence. I t is important to realizethat a concept is merely a symbol, a representation of the abstraction. The word is not to be mistaken for the thing. For example, the word "moon" (a concept) is not the large, bright, shape-changing object up in the sky, but only represents that celestial object. Concepts are created (named) to describe, explain and capture reality as it is known and understood.Issues in concept theoryA priori conceptsMain articles: A priori and a posteriori and Category (Kant)Kant declared that human minds possess pure or a priori concepts. Instead of being abstracted from individual perceptions, like empirical concepts, they originate in the mind itself. He called these concepts categories, in the sense of the word that means predicate, attribute, characteristic, or quality. But these pure categories are predicates of things in general, not of a particular thing. He called those concepts that result from abstraction "a posteriori concepts" (meaning concepts that arise out of experience). An empirical or an a posteriori concept is a general representation (Vorstellung) or non-specific thought of that which is common to several specific perceived objects (Logic, I, 1., §1, Note 1)A concept is a common feature or characteristic. Kant investigated the way that empirical a posteriori concepts are created.The logical acts of the understanding by which concepts are generatedas to their form are:parison, i.e., the likening of mental images to one another inrelation to the unity of consciousness;2.reflection, i.e., the going back over different mental images, howthey can be comprehended in one consciousness; and finally3.abstraction or the segregation of everything else by which themental images differ ...In order to make our mental images into concepts, onemust thus be able to compare, reflect, and abstract, forthese three logical operations of the understanding areessential and general conditions of generating anyconcept whatever.OntologyMain article: OntologyPlato was the starkest proponent of the realist thesis of universal concepts. By his view, concepts (and ideas in general) are innate ideas that were instantiations of a transcendental world of pure forms that lay behind the veil of the physical world. In this way, universals were explained as transcendent objects.Main article: Mental representationIn a physicalist theory of mind, a concept is a mental representation, which the brain uses to denote a class of things in the world. This is to say that it is literally, a symbol or group of symbols together made from the physical material of thebrain.Concepts are mental representations that allow us to draw appropriate inferences about the type of entities we encounter in our everyday lives.Concepts do not encompass all mental representations, but are merely a subset of them.The use of concepts is necessary to cognitive processes suchas categorization, memory, decision making, learning, and inference.Notable theories on the structure of conceptsClassical theoryMain article: DefinitionismThe classical theory of concepts, also referred to as the empiricist theory of concepts,is the oldest theory about the structure of concepts (it can be traced back to Aristotle), and was prominently held until the 1970s.The classical theory of concepts says that concepts have a definitional structure.Adequate definitions of the kind required by this theory usually take the form of a list of features. These features must have two important qualities to provide a comprehensive definition.Features entailed by the definition of a concept must be both necessary and sufficient for membership in the class of things covered by a particular concept. A feature is considered necessary if every member of the denoted class has that feature. A feature is considered sufficient if something has all the parts required by the definition.Another key part of this theory is that it obeys the law of the excluded middle, which means that there are no partial members of a class, you are either in or out.Prototype theoryMain article: Prototype theoryPrototype theory says that concepts specify properties that members of a class tend to possess, rather than must possess.Wittgenstein describes the relationship between members of a class as family resemblances. There are not necessarily any necessary conditions for membership, a dog can still be a dog with only threelegs.This view is particularly supported by psychological experimental evidence for prototypicality effects.We can judge an item's membership to the referent class of a concept by comparing it to the typical member – the most central member of the concept. If it is similar enough in the relevant ways, it will be cognitively admitted as a member of the relevant class of entities.Rosch suggests that every category is represented by a central exemplar which embodies all or the maximum possible number of features of a given category.Theory-theoryThis theory postulates that categorization by concepts is something like scientific theorizing.Concepts are not learned in isolation, but rather are learned as a part of ourexperiences with the world around us.In this sense, concepts' structure relies on their relationships to other concepts as mandated by a particular mental theory about the state of the world.Ideasthesia[edit]According to the theory of ideasthesia (or "sensing concepts"), activation of a concept may be the main mechanism responsible for creation of phenomenal experiences. Therefore, understanding how the brain processes concepts may be central to solving the mystery of how conscious experiences (or qualia) emerge within a physical system e.g., the sourness of the sour taste of lemon. This question is also known as the hard problem of consciousness.Research on ideasthesia emerged from research on synesthesia where it was noted that a synesthetic experience requires first an activation of a concept of the ter research expanded these results into everyday perception.B. From Sci-tech encyclopediaConcept1. International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis | 2005 | Luzes, PedroCOPYRIGHT 2005 Thomson Gale.For Wilfred Bion, conception is the result of coupling a pre-conception, an innate a priori idea, and a realization, elements of the real that are provided by external-sensory or internal-emotional experience. The concept is derived from conception through abstraction and generalization. Language and the attribution of a name to a concept unite preconception and realization, preventing any loss of experience in the process.Bion considers the concept a conception that has been assigned a name. The concept signifies a growth of the abstraction that enables us to expand the generalization of psychoanalytic theories, which, as a whole are judged to be too descriptive, too concrete. Concepts can be articulated in a deductive scientific system that functions like an Ars combinatoria2. The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009© The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009.con·cept / ˈkänˌsept/• n. an abstract idea; a general notion: the concept of justice.∎ a plan or intention; a conception: the center has kept firmly to its originalconcept. ∎ an idea or invention to help sell or publicize a commodity: a new concept in corporate hospitality.∎ Philos. an idea or mental picture of a group or class of objects formed by combining all their aspects. ∎ [as adj.] (of a car or other vehicle) produced as an experimental model to test the viability of new design features.C. British Dictionary definitions for conceptnoun1.an idea, esp an abstract idea: the concepts of biology2.(philosophy) a general idea or notion that corresponds to some class of entities andthat consists of the characteristic or essential features of the class3.(philosophy)a.the conjunction of all the characteristic features of somethingb. a theoretical construct within some theoryc. a directly intuited object of thoughtd.the meaning of a predicate4.(modifier) (of a product, esp a car) created as an exercise to demonstrate thetechnical skills and imagination of the designers, and not intended for massproduction or saleWord Origin and History for conceptn.1550s, from Medieval Latin conceptum "draft, abstract," in classical Latin "(a thing) conceived," from concep-, past participle stem of concipere "to take in"(see conceive). In some 16c. cases a refashioning of conceit (perhaps to avoidnegative connotations).D. From Britannica encylopedia1. concept, in the Analytic school of philosophy, the subject matter of philosophy,which philosophers of the Analytic school hold to be concerned with the salientfeatures of the language in which people speak of concepts at issue. Concepts are thus logical, not mental, entities. A typical instance of the use of concept is in The Concept of Mind(1949) by Gilbert Ryle, an Oxford Analyst, which implies that the purpose of the author is not to investigate matters of fact empirically (i.e., by the methods of psychology) about the mind itself but to investigate its “logicalgeography.” Similarly, investigation ... (100 of 138 words)2. concept formation, process by which a person learns to sort specific experiences into general rules or classes. With regard to action, a person picks up a particular stone or drives a specific car. With regard to thought, however, a person appears to deal with classes. For instance, one knows that stones (in general) sink and automobiles (as a class) are powered by engines. In other words, these things are considered in a general sense beyond any particular stone or automobile. Awareness of such classes can help guide behaviour in new situations.E. From Philosophy dictionaryconceptDictionary of Kants Technical TermsDictionary of Philosophy of MindF. From Collins English Dictionarynoun1. an idea, esp an abstract idea ⇒the concepts of biology2. philosophy a general idea or notion that corresponds to some class of entities and that consists of the characteristic oressential features of the class3. philosophy a. the conjunction of all the characteristic features of somethingb. a theoretical construct within some theoryc. a directly intuited object of thoughtd. the meaning of a predicate4. (modifier) (of a product, esp a car) created as an exercise to demonstrate the technical skills and imagination of thedesigners, and not intended for mass production or sale.。