Concepts are reflections that explain things through context beyond immediate experience

Evidence

“Concept” is taken to designate the mental representation of something that is understood, comprehended, known as the result of a process of reflection. This something may be an object of daily practice, or a situation, a society, a novel. In any case, if they are comprehended (begriffen; auf ihren Begriff gebracht), they have become objects of thought, and as such, their content and meaning are identical with and yet different from the real objects of immediate experience. “Identical” in as much as the concept denotes the same thing; “different” in as much as the concept is the result of a reflection which has understood the thing in the context (and in the light) of other things which did not appear in the immediate experience and which “explain” the thing (mediation). — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 423

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise definition of the term ‘concept’ that grounds the entire subsequent critique of operational thinking.
• XREF: This distinction between immediate appearance and mediated understanding is essentially the Hegelian dialectical move; connects to the earlier reading of the Frankfurt School’s Hegelian inheritance. — connects to: Concepts shape sensory perception even before direct experience begins; Expanding the interpretive horizon transforms the object of study itself. — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1738; Experience arrives pre-charged with meaning rather than as raw sense data — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 490 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Contemporary concepts get meanings by convention, not by ideal form #contradicts (0.82) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 342
• Concepts formed without social context restrict and confine knowledge #expands (0.78) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 738
• Knowledge requires mental reflection on existence rather than passive sensory impressions #corroborates (0.75) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 693