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Concept

Summary​

A Concept is a semantic unit that tries to capture the idea behind a classification of entities1, allowing us to reason about everything in the class as if it were one thing. For example, the ideas (mental representations) you have when processing the sentences "I can drink beer from a beer glass' and 'I can drink beer from a coffee mug' shows that the concepts that are behind 'beer glass' and 'coffee mug' differ. Note that in order to communicate about this idea, we also need a word or phrase (i.e.: a term2 that we can use to refer to (instances of) this idea).

The terminology pattern provides an overview of how this concept fits in with related concepts (as a specialization of a semantic unit).

Purpose​

Working together becomes easier sharing the same ideas among peers. We need a way to test that you and your peers actually or proveably have the same understanding, preferably with mutual confirmation. We ensure same understanding for easier, more efficient and more effective cooperation. Expectedly, it'll also reduce the number of terminological discussions.

Criteria​

A (description/specification of a) Concept MUST be intensionally defined, i.e. associated with a criterion that can be used to determine whether or not someone or something qualifies as (an instance of) that Concept. A criterion like this also has the property that the vast majority of contributors and other users apply it in the same manner in different situations (i.e. they arrive at the same conclusion as to whether or not someone or something qualifies under that criterion in any given situation).
Although these criteria are always tailor-made for different situations, they share the feature of having a great distinctive character a being a universally applicable water-shed marker between concepts.

Notes​

There is an important distinction between concepts and the (multitude of) terms (names, labels) that we need to grasp before being able to talk and reason (argue) about them. Please consider that

  • different terms are used in different contexts for the same concept
  • in different contexts, a single term may refer to different concepts
  • terminological disputes can be resolved by isolating criteria

How to resolve a dispute​

Usually, terminological disputes are about the 'correct' meaning of a term. However, in most cases it's not about being right or wrong. Participants in a dispute only look at the world differently from their position.
To bring out the differences, try to establish the criteria that the different participants use for the concept behind the term. That might help participants understand each other's (distinctive) positions and provides a better basis for resolving the dispute.

  1. WikiPedia has a concise explanation of concepts. We use the term 'concept' as a mental representation.↩
  2. For the difference between 'Concept' and 'Term', see https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept.↩