Concepts

A concept is an abstract idea representing the fundamental characteristics of what it represents. Concepts arise as abstractions or generalisations from experience or the result of a transformation of existing ideas. The concept is by all of its actual or potential instances, whether these are things in the real world or other ideas. Concepts are treated in many if not most disciplines both explicitly, such as in linguistics, psychology, philosophy, etc., and implicitly, such as in mathematics, physics, etc. In use the word concept often just means any idea, but formally it involves the abstraction component. These concepts are then stored in long term memory

In metaphysics, and especially ontology, a concept is a fundamental category of existence. In contemporary philosophy, there are at least three prevailing ways to understand what a concept is:

Concepts can be organized in hierarchies. Higher levels of the hierarchy are termed superordinate, and lower levels of the hierarchy are termed subordinate. Additionally, there is a level known as the "basic" level of a concept at which people will most readily categorize a thing. For example, a basic level concept would be "chair," with the superordinate "furniture" and the subordinate "easy chair."

The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 (Latin – "something conceived"), but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle on the definition of terms. The meaning of "concept" is explored in mainstream information science,cognitive science, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. In computer and information science contexts, especially, the term 'concept' is often used in unclear or inconsistent ways.

...
Wikipedia