Concept Definition and 1000 Threads

Concepts are defined as abstract ideas or general notions that occur in the mind, in speech, or in thought. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of thoughts and beliefs.
They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by several disciplines, such as linguistics, psychology, and philosophy, and these disciplines are interested in the logical and psychological structure of concepts, and how they are put together to form thoughts and sentences. The study of concepts has served as an important flagship of an emerging interdisciplinary approach called cognitive science.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 mind (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 statesConcepts can be organized into a hierarchy, higher levels of which are termed "superordinate" and lower levels termed "subordinate". Additionally, there is the "basic" or "middle" level at which people will most readily categorize a concept. For example, a basic-level concept would be "chair", with its superordinate, "furniture", and its subordinate, "easy chair".

Concepts may be exact, or inexact.
When the mind makes a generalization such as the concept of tree, it extracts similarities from numerous examples; the simplification enables higher-level thinking.
A 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 studied as components of human cognition in the cognitive science disciplines of linguistics, psychology and, philosophy, where an ongoing debate asks whether all cognition must occur through concepts. Concepts are used as formal tools or models in mathematics, computer science, databases and artificial intelligence where they are sometimes called classes, schema or categories. In informal use the word concept often just means any idea.

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  1. sysprog

    Is Social Distancing Being Enforced at This Bar?

    I went to a bar last night that had recently re-opened. From the entry area to the service station, all the seats were occupied, and people were standing near the occupants, but past the service station, the bar was completely unoccupied, and there was a sign: Detail: I didn't want to take...
  2. person_random_normal

    I Visualizing the Fourier transform using the center of mass concept

    I found this video on youtube which is trying to explain Fourier transform using the center of mass concept At 15:20 the expression of the x coordinate is given in the video. I believe it is wrong, and it should be: ##\frac{{\int g(t)e^{(-2 \pi ift)}.g(t).2 \pi f.dt}} { \int g(t).2 \pi...
  3. kahakura

    Concept for a repeat-reset rat trap

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  4. G

    Confusion on the concept of point of rotation

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  5. R

    I Parallel Transport & Geodesics: Explained

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  6. Achintya

    Trouble with the concept of tension....

    ...
  7. S

    Understanding a Concept: Seeking Deeper Answers

    I have been trying to understand it but I couldn't can anyone illustrate with deeper answer?
  8. S

    I Bondi ##k##-factor concept from first principles

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  9. jisbon

    Chemistry Calculating the volume of individual solution(s) [Mole/Atoms Concept]

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  10. L

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  11. Buzz Bloom

    I Some new evidence that the Dark Energy Concept is wrong

    The reference in the summary refers to an article which has been recently accepted by The Astrophysical Journal. A draft version of the article dated December 10, 2019 is https://arxiv.org/pdf/1912.04903.pdf . The content of the draft article is way over my head, so I am hoping that...
  12. T

    Understanding the concept of Energy

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  13. T

    Who Does the Work When a Ball is Kicked: The Player or the Ball?

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  14. T

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  15. S

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  16. B

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  17. S

    I Rational functions in one indeterminate - useful concept?

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  18. T

    Understanding The Concept Of Moments

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  19. B

    Newton's Second Law for Translation and Rotation

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  20. hagopbul

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  21. A. Neumaier

    B How to teach beginners in quantum theory the POVM concept

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  22. Sophrosyne

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  23. Guidestone

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  24. archaic

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  25. B

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  26. B

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  27. Skyland

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  28. B

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  29. S

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  30. N

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  31. Y

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  32. jdou86

    I Confusion about the Concept of Operators

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  33. N

    I Measuring Star Radii with General Relativity

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  34. F

    I Infinity: The Limit Concept and Cantor Transfinites

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  35. YoungPhysicist

    B What exactly is this concept called? -- Finding "?" in x^2+16x+? to get (x+8)^2

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  36. C

    The concept of a force lifting a weight and the work done

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  37. S

    Understanding Force Components in a Hanging Box System

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  38. G

    Understanding an Elementary Torque Concept

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  39. I

    B Can I use three equations for the same concept?

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  40. R

    I Understanding the concept of infinity

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  41. Suyash Singh

    Chemistry Calculating Final Composition of Compounds in Haber's Process with 50% Yield

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  42. donaldparida

    B Methods of integration: direct and indirect substitution

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  43. marosa4

    How does momentum affect the motion of objects in a friction-less environment?

    What would the theoretical maximum possible speed be for a platform on a horizontal air-bearing (friction-less), if the only propulsion was a spring powered machine gun with unlimited steel balls? The balls go one way, the platform moves proportionally in the opposite direction. Ignore inertia...
  44. Suyash Singh

    Studying Master Physics Concepts with Abundant Examples | Find the Best Site for Learning

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  45. pokemon123

    Understanding Work with Conservative Forces | Physics

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  46. zonde

    I Do these Bell inequalities rely on probability concept?

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  47. R

    I Concept behind equivalent metrics

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  48. Aleoa

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  49. J

    B Why Does Vqp Need to be Tangential to Vq in Order for Q to Get Closest to P?

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  50. Robert Shaw

    I Does the concept of an "object" belong in Quantum Mechanics?

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