Philosophy of Being and Knowledge

Logic (Philosophy of Thought)

Concept

Just as a house is composed of building materials that are assembled according to a certain design, human thought is composed of material that the mind processes according to specific rules. These rules that guide the mind and regulate thinking are called the laws of logic. A course of thought that adheres to the laws of logic is considered correct; one that violates these laws is deemed incorrect or fallacious. The material of thought consists of the forms of thinking, which are: concepts, judgments, and inferences. It is these laws of logic and forms of thought that form the subject of study and investigation in logic.

A concept is a form of thought through which the intellect apprehends an essence without asserting or denying anything about it. In other words, a concept is the reflection in the mind of what a person apprehends. In language, a concept is expressed through a word. Concepts may be expressed by a single word (e.g., "car") or by multiple words (e.g., "Black Sea").

In a concept, general and essential attributes of an object are considered. Attributes are the qualities of an object through which it is similar to or distinct from other objects. For example, the attributes of a tree include the presence of a root system, trunk, and crown. Attributes are classified by different properties:

• By the degree of generality, attributes are divided into:

✵ General attributes - those inherent to all objects of the concept;

✵ Partial attributes - those inherent only to some objects of the concept.

For instance, having a crown is a general attribute of a tree since all trees have crowns, whereas having leaves is a partial attribute because some trees have leaves and others do not.

• By significance, attributes are divided into:

✵ Essential attributes - those without which the object cannot exist;

✵ Non-essential attributes - those without which the object can still exist.

For example, having an engine is an essential attribute of a car, as a car cannot exist without an engine; however, having a dashcam is not an essential attribute of a car.

All essential attributes are general, but not all general attributes are essential. For instance, the color black is a general attribute of a crow because all crows are black, but it is not an essential attribute because if a crow changed color under certain circumstances, it would still be a crow. Attributes that are general but not essential are referred to as incidental accidents.

Every class of objects is a part of a higher-order class. For example, a car is a type of vehicle. Consequently, each concept includes both the attributes specific to its type and those pertaining to the genus to which it belongs. The attributes specific to the type are called specific attributes, while those pertaining to the genus are called generic attributes. For example, in the concept of "student," the specific attribute is "one who studies," but it also includes all attributes related to the genus "human," thus encompassing all human attributes.

A concept is characterized by two categories:

• The content of the concept - the complex of all essential attributes that are considered within the concept;
• The extension of the concept - the set of objects that fall under the concept.

For example, the content of the concept "square" includes the attributes "geometric figure," "figure with four right angles," and "figure with four pairs of parallel sides"; the extension of the concept "square" includes all squares.

The relationship between the content and extension of a concept is governed by a clear principle: the more attributes included in the content of a concept, the smaller its extension, and the fewer attributes included, the larger its extension. For instance, the concept "square" has a larger content than the concept "rectangle" because the concept of "square" encompasses more attributes than "rectangle," but the concept "square" has a smaller extension than "rectangle" because there are more rectangles than squares, as all squares are rectangles, but rectangles also include other figures that are not squares (e.g., rhombuses). This principle is known as the law of inverse relationship between the content and extension of a concept.