Definition of Concept

Definition of Concept

From the Latin conceptus , the term concept refers to the idea that forms the understanding . It is a thought that is expressed through words: "I am not clear about the concept of civil responsibility" , "My concept of friendship is very different from yours" .

A concept is, therefore, a cognitive unit of meaning . It is born as an abstract idea (it is a mental construction) that allows us to understand the experiences arising from the interaction with the environment and that, finally, is verbalized (it is put into words).

It is important to keep in mind that the notion of concept always appears linked to the context . The conceptualizationdevelops with the interaction between the senses, language and cultural factors. Knowing something through experience and transforming that knowledge into a concept is possible because of the references that are made about a thing or a situation that is unique and unrepeatable.

The individual, on the other hand, is indicated by its own name , not by a concept. The rock is a concept (an idea that involves notions of style, rhythm, poetry, etc.), whereas The Beatles or The Rolling Stones are rock bands (who helped build the concept).

All the above means that on many occasions we find ourselves with the fact that many people tend to confuse two terms: concept and definition. However, they are not synonyms.

The key to understanding the differences between the two is that the aforementioned definition is the description that is made in a universal and precise way of an idea, an expression or a branch of knowledge. Meanwhile, the concept can determine what is the opinion that a person has on a specific aspect. That is to say, the concept is much less precise and more particular.

In this way, as examples we can use the following ones. In the case of the definition would serve the following sentence: "Medicine is the scientific branch that is responsible for studying both life and death and diseases of the human being." On the other hand, the concept example would be: "There are many concepts about the application of Medicine in the field of personality problems".

It is important to emphasize, in addition to all the above, that in the past the term concept was used as a synonym for a term with which nothing now has to do. In particular, time before concept was also used to refer to a fetus.

Concept is, on the other hand, the credit that you have someone or something. In this sense, the word is associated with a judgment or an opinion (it is a clearly subjective concept): "The teacher does not have a good concept about me" , "I think Roberto will have to do a lot to improve the concept of boss . "

Likewise, we must not ignore the fact that there is an expression that makes use of the term we are now dealing with. We are referring to the adverbial phrase "form concept" that is used to establish that a particular person is carrying out in his mind an opinion or an idea on an issue after having taken into account all the circumstances that surround