Concepts

Concepts are recombinable elements of deliberate conscious thoughts. When I think birds fly, I use my concept of birds and my concept of flying. We think about the world by categorizing things under concepts. This allows us to use existing knowledge (the bird may well fly off). And when we learn something new (birds have feathers), concepts store that information systematically. As studied in cognitive science, concepts are mental representations: physical particulars (in the brain, and perhaps body, of the thinker) that refer to things in the world. A prominent version of the representational approach argues that concepts combine and behave like words of natural language—that we think in a language of thought. As information floods in from the world, concepts are a key way we make sense of what we perceive. They play a central role in thought, language, communication, and learning. They are powerful tools for organizing information, making inferences, and planning for the future.