Concept

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A concept is a mental integration of a set of two or more existents, which share the same characteristics. This has the effect of pulling together many existents under one mental unit rather than dealing with many existents individually. While any one existent is composed of many characteristics, concepts abstract away only some of the specific properties of concrete examples. Man creates concepts by understanding relationships of similarity and difference observed between existents; the unit is the Objectivist "bridge between metaphysics and epistemology" (ITOE p. 7). The essential fact which needs to be grasped in creating and acquiring concepts is that every existent has an identity (a nature).

Similarities and differences in an existent's nature, which man perceives, form the basis for assigning the existent to a particular concept. Similarities in terms of commensurable characteristics are the basis for the definition of a concepts, and since concepts stand for two or more concretes, it must be possible to differentiate one concrete from another one which is subsumed under the same concept: see measurement omission.

See also