What is a concept?
An abstraction?, cognitive building block, a container for idea(s)?, a
symbol & representation?, a tool for indexing, learning, memory and
navigation?, a fundamental language construct?, a reified cognitive artifact?,
a category? Concepts can be any unit of thought or a mental image formed
by generalization.
Any concept is more than its name, the links to related concepts define its
meaning, every concept has a life-cycle. A
concept is an abstract, universal psychical entity that serves to designate a
category or class of entities, events or relations. WikiPedia
So what does a concept look like?
Fuzzy or crisp boundaries with gradational or binary membership?, does the
essential meaning morph with community membership? is there a universal
classification of concept types?, is a concept both a personal or group
possession?
Concepts are defined along multiple dimensions: abstract-concrete,
conjunctive-disjunctive, artificial-natural, well-defined/ill-defined,
object-event.....
Why are concepts important?
Our beliefs, world views, creativity and communication ability, depend on
the concepts we hold, how strongly we hold them and ways we can change them.
Concepts are the building blocks for analytical and mental models. Making
concepts explicit and visual helps promote learning, knowledge construction and
assists with memory retention.
Concepts
are key entities for knowledge work. They solidify ideas, reify emergent
distinctions, help with articulation & explication, aid discovery and meme
description.
We now have the means to access and navigate texts at the level of the contained
concepts. This has important implications for personal learning, JIT
knowledge provision, spawns new revenue models and helps with profile
building. Tagging gives concept level ways to classify and
retrieve works.
How are new concepts acquired?
Mostly from instances through; abstraction of invariant features, hypothesis
testing, selection of prototypes. Acquisition may be through language using
definitions, synonyms, analogy, and metaphor. A fundamental difference in
conceptual approach is found between 'lumpers & splitters'
Concept mapping
This article by Joe Novak
explores the theory, provides practical tools and tips for mapping concepts
Related questions
- How are concepts related to
categories and classification?,
- What are the 'hidden
politics' in concept formation and agreement,
- How do concepts relate to
knowledge construction and 'bringing forth our worlds'?
My previous thoughts on concepts – coming in a kind of circle.
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