A concept is an idea formed by understanding.
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 that arise from the interaction with the environment and that, finally, is verbalized (put into words).
The importance of context
It is important to keep in mind that the notion of concept always appears linked to the context . Conceptualization develops with the interaction between the senses, language and cultural factors. Knowing something through experience and transforming that knowledge into a concept is possible due to the references that are made about a thing or a situation that is unique and unrepeatable.
The individual, on the other hand, is indicated with a proper name , not with a concept. Rock is a concept (an idea that involves notions of style, rhythm, lyrics, etc.), while The Beatles or The Rolling Stones are rock bands (which helped build the concept).
Differences between concept and definition
All of the above leads us to often find 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 universal and precise description of an idea, an expression or a branch of knowledge. Meanwhile, the concept we can determine is the opinion that a person has about a specific aspect. That is, the concept is much less precise and more particular.
The concept can be defined as a mental construction that is verbalized.
In this way, as examples we can use the following. In the case of the definition, the following phrase would serve: "Medicine is the scientific branch that is responsible for studying both life and death and human diseases." For its part, the example of a concept would be: "There are many concepts about the application of Medicine in the field of personality problems."
Other uses of the notion
It is important to underline in addition to everything stated above that in the past the term concept was used as a synonym for a term with which it now has nothing to do. Specifically, some time before the concept was also used to refer to a fetus.
Concept is, on the other hand, the credit you have to 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 opinion of me," "I think Roberto will have to do a lot to improve the concept of the teacher." boss" .
Likewise, it should not be overlooked that there is an expression that makes use of the term that concerns us now. We are referring to the adverbial phrase "form concept" which is the one used to establish that a specific person is carrying out an opinion or idea about a matter in their mind after having taken into account all the circumstances that influence it. surround.