An approach to concepts

In defining what concept is, the human intellect took and takes, many approaches most of them driven, I would dare say, by some kind of ulterior motives, or hidden agenda. Individuals applying biased views of looking at things, struggled to convince others, experts and the public, about the validity of their arguments drawn into embittered battles making it a personal quest but not a quest for truth.

The end result is, the meaning of concept remains largely obscure and its usefulness in the human endeavour, in either personal or collective level, to make sense of the world ambiguous. An obstacle that hinders natural growth.

Among the definitions present up to date, one that bears significance and assists human mind in search for answers in a personal and collective level is the approach put forward by William James

"In order to understand the meaning of the concept and to discuss its importance, a concept may be tested by asking, "What sensible difference to anybody will its truth make?" There is only one criterion of a concept's meaning and only one test of its truth. That criterion or test is its consequences for human behavior."

Looking at human behaviour in its broad sense including the efforts for elucidating the rules and mechanisms that underpin reality, making sense of what is going on around us, we acquire meaning by using concepts, concepts taken from the viewpoint of what sensible difference its use will make while the person is in the process of probing reality, what would the consequences be in altering his understanding about the process probed.

As meaning lies in people, meaning conveyed by concepts, the concepts used in the process to understand the underlying reasons of a phenomenon probed, we achieve meaning and understand the phenomenon as long as we have embraced the full extent of the concept's implications as these are expressed by the concept's properties, extensions, and other particular qualities contained herein.

Each time a concept is enriched by the addition of extra qualities, whatever that may be, a discovery process itself, it will result in a re-arrangement of our understanding, our very own conceptual arsenal increase, adding extra dimensions and improving our sense of the world.

Imperfect kinds of consciousness

Extracts from the 'Emergence' book, chapter 'Mind Readers'.
... the chimp (an individual) must somewhere be aware that the world is full of imperfectly shared information, and that other individuals may have a perspective on the world that differs from his. Most important (and most conniving), he's capable of exploiting that difference for his own benefit. That exploitation - a furtive pass concealed from the alpha male - is only possible because he is capable of building theories of other minds.
... Human beings are innate mind readers. Our skill at imagining other people's mental states ranks up there with our knack for language ...

... information the stuff of concepts ... consciousness is based on concepts ... there are myriads of concepts in the world ... humans endeavoured tirelessly in pursuit for new concepts ... the discovery continues unabated ... consciousness is boundless ... an individual's consciousness have boundaries ... consciousness based on the concepts the individual amasses and adheres to ... concepts are adhered either by choice or necessity ... a projection of the world ... a biconvex lens projection ... a personal projection directed by the concepts grasped ... take in only what the concepts assimilated would allow ... a lot of stimuli in the world can not access our internal world ... they are not internalized ... limits consciousness and by default makes it imperfect ...

Kinds of consciousness

"I am for a moment transported into a different kind of consciousness"

What thoughts associate without bias the reading of that statement? Different individuals each possessing their own kind of consciousness. How can that be possible? Is consciousness not shared alike by all people? Can it not be equally possessed by everybody?
The statement above was quoted by an English traveler and described how he felt whenever he recalled the description of a steamship given by a South Sea Islander native. The South Sea Islander's concept of the steamship was different, as he surmised by his steamship description, from the English traveler's concept.
Concepts then determine consciousness. Concepts represent knowledge structures stored in our memory banks. They are the information which we learn in the course of our lives. The breadth and depth and the kind of concepts learned varies between individuals. Acquired concepts determine an individual's consciousness. Consciousness then can be seen as a deeply personal asset of an individual.

The broader and deeper the concepts, the individual possesses, the more encompassing its consciousness will be.

......... ....... boundless consciousness ...... .........

... consciousness in other words reality existence realms ... be that cosmos universe multiverse parallel worlds hyper-dimensions quantum-worlds υπερπεραν psychic worlds ever including concept of consciousness ... distilled right into our mind ... funneled down right into our psyche ... external existence internalized ... internal existence externalized ... in all inclusive concepts ... defined and described by concepts ... concept the carrier including within it all that is to be contained ... arrived to by mental acts ... materialise by mental acts ... painstakingly humans since the dawn of their era have explored each corner of what it can be seen, imagined, felt and produced a wealth of concepts ... since then these concepts have become the fodder in the furnace we call living ... guide us in ourselves, our communities, our societies, the world we live in ...