The words concept and idea have a quite similar meaning on this blog. Relative to the concept the idea is more comprehensive. The connection of several concepts gives us an idea. This idea itself also forms a new concept, which can be again combined with other concepts to another idea. Following this process we could get to an all-embracing idea, which includes all concepts within itself. Only for this idea it does not make sense to also call it a concept. A concept is also characterized as delimiting, it is defining something we want to distinguish from other things. A tree is connected with the soil it stands in. Still, the concept of a tree separates the the tree and its roots from the soil that it grows in. Concepts serve to distinguish. This is a plant and this is a mineral. Ideas serve to connect. This is a leave and this is hot water. An idea connects both to a tea. The tea can then be understood as a concept, and can be clearly distinguished from for example a coffee.
Relations between perceptions are always given to us in the from of a concept. If it suddenly becomes bright for a short time, followed by a rumbling sound, our thinking connects those impressions. If we already have the concept of a thunderstorm in our Weltbild, we will be able to relate the inputs described above accordingly. The access to new concepts is possible thanks to our intuition, as observation gives us access to perceptions. We find new concepts with conceptual thinking. That means we try to describe the perception with concepts we already know. Do we see a triangle drawn on a paper, then we could describe it as three points, all connected with straight lines. We have then connected the concepts of points and lines and found the idea of a triangle. Doing this, we have also defined the concept of a triangle. Because we started with base concepts we knew, this method can be called bottom-up. To do this, we need a force of thinking called reason.
When we have found an idea through conceptual thinking, it does not automatically result in a folly comprehended and interconnected new concept in our Weltbild. The new idea has to be developed as a concept with further active thinking and must get further embedded in the network of concepts that we already have. As a result, we can only process ideas that have a connection to concepts that we already know. Only then it is possible to integrate the idea in our network. We do not need to know all concepts that an idea includes, a single one can already be sufficient. This way we end up with concepts in our Weltbild, that are not fully networked to its base concepts. We usually want to fix that and use the top-down method to clarify a concept We analyze it and search for concepts that we already know that are useful as base-concepts. For this activity we use our intellect. If we miss base concepts, the concept cannot be fully clarified and we must do some research to find more concepts.
Finding and clarifying concepts is not a sudden event. It may sometimes happen that we find an idea and immediately get a very good and complete understanding of it. Then we were very well prepared for that idea, with good knowledge of all concepts included in it. For easy ideas, like a triangle, this is the case for many people. But it is the exception, because concepts are usually more complex, especially in nature. Usually we experience a moment of excitement in the moment of intuition, when we find an idea. We then process the idea, and as we do so there are questions coming up. We must search more base concepts and network the idea. Then we move on from finding the idea to clarifying it.
To form a concept requires knowledge of at least one base concept. To understand a bridge I must know the concept of a path or road. Ideas that are based on concepts I know are easily accessible and understandable to me. It is not possible to process an idea that has no direct connection to the concepts I know. On the other hand, it is also not necessary to know all base concepts. There must always be a connection between concepts and ideas. In many further steps we can then fully network the connections.
Concepts are general and abstract, and we often do not use them directly in every day life. In our mind the concepts are covered up with our Vorstellung. There is an idea, a concept hiding behind all our Vorstellung and sensory impressions. The Vorstellung is individual, we all have somewhat different images in our head when we think for example about a tea. Still, we can talk about tea and understand each other. That is because behind our individualized concept of a tea, our Vorstellung of it – probably in a cup or a pot – we also have the general concept of a tea in our mind. That one is the same for all humans, given they have heard of tea and followed up the questions they had about it to clarify the concept. Thinking with Vorstellung creates mental images, like a teapot on a table. Conceptual thinking looks for and delivers base concepts, and it builds and enriches the connections between our concepts. It makes our network of concepts more dense and complete.