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Concept






   A concept is a cognitive unit of meaning- an abstract idea or mental symbol. This unit of knowledge is built from other units to form characteristics.



  Two theories cover concepts. A representational theory deems concepts as mental representations. The semantic theory holds concepts are abstract objects.



  Ideas are conceived to be concepts, though abstract concepts do not appear to the mind as some ideas do.



  According to John Locke, a general idea is created by abstracting, a drawing away or removing a common characteristic from several ideas. This is common for everyone.



  For example, the abstract general idea in the word 'red' is that characteristic of apples, blood and cherries. The concept of the word 'dog' is the collective characteristic among Collies, Pitbulls and Chihuahuas.



  In Locke's tradition, John Stuart Mill contends abstraction is pulled from concepts. When we put phenomena into a class, we compare them to find out how they agree. Mill notes this step, a result of the comparison, the abstraction from individual things.



  For Schopenhauer, abstractions are formed from intuitive perception. In arbitrary thinking, we drop some qualities and retain others. He says a concept is drawn off from previous images, by putting off their differences.



Kant defines concepts abstracted from many possible instances.



  It seems obvious concepts must have structure. The containment model has been dominant. Here, a concept has certain necessary and sufficient conditions to determine an extension. This model allows no degrees, it's either in or out of the conceptual extension.



  The inferential model finds structure of concept in a graded manner, the tendency of the concept used in certain kinds of inferences.



  Jerry Fodor sees concepts formed from reliable information from mental contents and the world. These claims are called 'atomistic' because they are deemed indistinguishable.



  Nietzche says concepts are formed by equating what is unequal, much like 'leaves', snowflakes or individuals.





Wikipedia