What is concept ?

a general notion or idea; conception.

an idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct.

a directly conceived or intuited object of thought.

1. an idea, esp an abstract idea: the concepts of biology

2. philosophy a general idea or notion that corresponds to some class of entities and that consists of the characteristic or essential features of the class

3. philosophy a. the conjunction of all the characteristic features of something b. a theoretical construct within some theory c. a directly intuited object of thought d. the meaning of a predicate

4. ( modifier ) (of a product, esp a car) created as an exercise to demonstrate the technical skills and imagination of the designers, and not intended for mass production or sale

A concept is a generalized idea of a thing or class of things.

A concept (substantive term: conception) is a cognitive unit of meaning—an abstract idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge," built from other units which act as a concept's characteristics. A concept is typically associated with a corresponding representation in a language or symbology such as a single meaning of a term

There are prevailing theories in contemporary philosophy which attempt to explain the nature of concepts.

The representational theory of mind proposes that concepts are mental representations,

while the semantic theory of concepts (originating with Frege's distinction between concept and object) holds that they are abstract objects.

Ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear to the mind as images as some ideas do.

Many philosophers consider concepts to be a fundamental ontological category of being.

The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 (Latin conceptum - "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.

A posteriori abstractions

John Locke's description of a general idea corresponds to a description of a concept.

According to Locke, a general idea is created by abstracting, drawing away, or removing the uncommon characteristic or characteristics from several particular ideas.

The remaining common characteristic is that which is similar to all of the different individuals. For example, the abstract general idea or concept that is designated by the word "red" is that characteristic which is common to apples, cherries, and blood.

The abstract general idea or concept that is signified by the word "dog" is the collection of those characteristics which are common to Airedales, Collies, and Chihuahuas.

In the same tradition as Locke, John Stuart Mill stated that general conceptions are formed through abstraction. A general conception is the common element among the many images of members of a class. "...[W]hen we form a set of phenomena into a class, that is, when we compare them with one another to ascertain in what they agree, some general conception is implied in this mental operation" (A System of Logic, Book IV, Ch. II). Mill did not believe that concepts exist in the mind before the act of abstraction. "It is not a law of our intellect, that, in comparing things with each other and taking note of their agreement, we merely recognize as realized in the outward world something that we already had in our minds. The conception originally found its way to us as the result of such a comparison. It was obtained (in metaphysical phrase) by abstraction from individual things" (Ibid.).

For Schopenhauer, empirical concepts "...are mere abstractions from what is known through intuitive perception, and they have arisen from our arbitrarily thinking away or dropping of some qualities and our retention of others." (Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. I, "Sketch of a History of the Ideal and the Real"). In his On the Will in Nature, "Physiology and Pathology," Schopenhauer said that a concept is "drawn off from previous images ... by putting off their differences. This concept is then no longer intuitively perceptible, but is denoted and fixed merely by words." Nietzsche, who was heavily influenced by Schopenhauer, wrote: "Every concept originates through our equating what is unequal. No leaf ever wholly equals another, and the concept 'leaf' is formed through an arbitrary abstraction from these individual differences, through forgetting the distinctions...

By contrast to the above philosophers, Immanuel Kant held that the account of the concept as an abstraction of experience is only partly correct. He called those concepts that result of abstraction "a posteriori concepts" (meaning concepts that arise out of experience). An empirical or an a posteriori concept is a general representation (Vorstellung) or non-specific thought of that which is common to several specific perceived objects (Logic, I, 1., §1, Note 1).

The logical acts of the understanding by which concepts are generated as to their form are:

comparison, i.e., the likening of mental images to one another in relation to the unity of consciousness;

reflection, i.e., the going back over different mental images, how they can be comprehended in one consciousness; and finally

abstraction or the segregation of everything else by which the mental images differ ...

In order to make our mental images into concepts, one must thus be able to compare, reflect, and abstract, for these three logical operations of the understanding are essential and general conditions of generating any concept whatever. For example, I see a fir, a willow, and a linden. In firstly comparing these objects, I notice that they are different from one another in respect of trunk, branches, leaves, and the like; further, however, I reflect only on what they have in common, the trunk, the branches, the leaves themselves, and abstract from their size, shape, and so forth; thus I gain a concept of a tree.

A priori concepts

Kant declared that human minds possess pure or a priori concepts. Instead of being abstracted from individual perceptions, like empirical concepts, they originate in the mind itself. He called these concepts categories, in the sense of the word that means predicate, attribute, characteristic, or quality. But these pure categories are predicates of things in general, not of a particular thing. According to Kant, there are 12 categories that constitute the understanding of phenomenal objects. Each category is that one predicate which is common to multiple empirical concepts. In order to explain how an a priori concept can relate to individual phenomena, in a manner analogous to an a posteriori concept, Kant employed the technical concept of the schema.

Lectur notes prepared by Biju P R,Assistant professor in Political science,GBC TLY

DEFENCE AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

B A POLITICAL SCIENCE OPEN COURSE 5D03 POL

Unit I a)Contribution of Armed Forces towards Independent India including nation building.

b)Defence logistics and role of society towards the Armed Forces and war fighting.

Unit II Security and its dimensions (External, Internal, Energy, Food, Water, Maritime Security Political,Economic).

Unit III Defence including maritime strategy and India’s foreign policy, with particular reference to our neighbours.

India’s neibours and their armed Forces.

Indian defence forces and UN.

Functional relations and warrant of precedence.

Indian Military campaigns –a broad study of major military campaigns from 1947.

Unit IV Issues in Indian defence system

Women in the armed forces,military-society disconnect,defence modernization,social composition of India’s defence system,armed forces and politics

Quantitative and Qualitative research

-In Miles and Huberman's 1994 book Qualitative Data Analysis, quantitative researcher Fred Kerlinger is quoted as saying, "There's no such thing as qualitative data. Everything is either 1 or 0" (p. 40).

-To this another researcher, D. T. Campbell, asserts "all research ultimately has a qualitative grounding" (p. 40).

- This back and forth banter among qualitative and quantitative researchers is "essentially unproductive" according to Miles and Huberman.

-They and many other researchers agree that these two research methods need each other more often than not.

It is important for researchers to realize that qualitative and quantitative methods can be used in conjunction with each other

-Quantitative and qualitative methods are studied within the context of positivistic and phenomenological paradigms .

-Some of the basic tools for qualitative or quantitative research are related to data collection methods which can be case studies, questionnaires or interviews (Simon et al, 1985).

The researche can be quantitative or qualitative or even both. Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. Here a process is expressed or described in terms of one or more quantities. Qualitative research is concerned with quailtative phenomenon involving quality. It is non-numerical,descriptive, applies reasoning and uses words. Its aim is to get the meaning, feeling and describe the situation. We measure and weigh things in the study of substance or structure. Can we measure or weigh patterns? We cannot measure or weigh patterns. But to study patterns we must map a configuration of relationships. That is, structures involve quantities whereas patterns involve qualities. If one wishes to investigate why certain data are random then it is a qualitative research. If the aim is to study how random the data is, what is the mean,variance and distribution function then it becomes quantitative. Explaining how digestion of food takes place in our body is a qualitative description. It does not involve any numbers or data and quantities. The detection of a particular compound is a qualitative analysis. This can be done by carrying out physical or chemical tests. Determination of exact amount of a particular compound present in a volume is essentially quantitative analysis. This can be done by volumetric, gravimetric and calorimetric methods or instrumental methods. Experimental and simulation studies are generally quantitative research.

Quantitative

Quantitative research methods focus on statistical approaches .

Quantitative methods emphasise on objective measurements and numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires or surveys

while quantitative involves many phenomena with few variables

quantitative data involves numbers
quantitative research is deductive

all quantitative research requires a hypothesis before research can begin

In quantitative research, the researcher is ideally an objective observer that neither participates in nor influences what is being studied.
quantitative research is generally better for confirming and clarifying.

To quantify data and generalize results from a sample to the population of interest

To measure the incidence of various views and opinions in a chosen sample

Sometimes followed by qualitative research which is used to explore some findings further

Qualitative

Qualitative methods are based on content analysis, comparative analysis, grounded theory, and interpretation (Strauss, 1990).

qualitative research focuses on understanding social phenomena through interviews, personal comments etc.

Qualitative research usually involves few cases with many variables

typically qualitative data involves words
qualitative research is inductive

In qualitative research, a hypothesis is not needed to begin research

In qualitative research, however, it is thought that the researcher can learn the most about a situation by participating and/or being immersed in it.
qualitative research is usually better for exploring, understanding, and uncovering,

To gain an understanding of underlying reasons and motivations

To provide insights into the setting of a problem, generating ideas and/or hypotheses for later quantitative research

To uncover prevalent trends in thought and opinion

Quantitative / qualitative debate

There is some debate over whether "quantitative research" and "qualitative research" methods can be complementary: some researchers argue that combining the two approaches is beneficial and helps build a more complete picture of the social world, while other researchers believe that the epistemologies that underpin each of the approaches are so divergent that they cannot be reconciled within a research project.

While quantitative methods are based on a natural science, positivist model of testing theory, qualitative methods are based on interpretivism and are more focused around generating theories and accounts. Positivists treat the social world as something that is 'out there', external to the social scientist and waiting to be researched. Interpretivists, on the other hand believe that the social world is constructed by social agency and therefore any intervention by a researcher will affect social reality. Herein lies the supposed conflict between quantitative and qualitative approaches - quantitative approaches traditionally seek to minimise intervention in order to produce valid and reliable statistics, whereas qualitative approaches traditionally treat intervention as something that is necessary (often arguing that participation can lead to a better understanding of a social situation).

However, it is increasingly recognised that the significance of these differences should not be exaggerated and that quantitative and qualitative approaches can be complementary. They can be combined in a number of ways, for example:

Qualitative methods can be used in order to develop quantitative research tools. For example, focus groups could be used to explore an issue with a small number of people and the data gathered using this method could then be used to develop a quantitative survey questionnaire that could be administered to a far greater number of people allowing results to be generalised.

Qualitative methods can be used to explore and facilitate the interpretation of relationships between variables. For example researchers may inductively hypothesize that there would be a positive relationship between positive attitudes of sales staff and the amount of sales of a store. However, quantitative, deductive, structured observation of 576 convenience stores could reveal that this was not the case, and in order to understand why the relationship between the variables was negative the researchers may undertake qualitative case studies of four stores including participant observation. This might abductively confirm that the relationship was negative, but that it was not the positive attitude of sales staff that led to low sales, but rather that high sales led to busy staff who were less likely to be express positive emotions at work!

Quantitative methods are useful for describing social phenomena, especially on a larger scale. Qualitative methods allow social scientists to provide richer explanations (and descriptions) of social phenomena, frequently on a smaller scale. By using two or more approaches researchers may be able to 'triangulate' their findings and provide a more valid representation of the social world.

Lecture notes prepared by Biju P R,Assistant Professor in Political Science,Govt Brennen College Thalassery