ABSTRACT
The concept is the unit of thought; accordingly the theory of concepts should be the philosophical equivalent of the atomic theory. The logic of concepts has two parts: the syntax of concepts, which studies their structure, and the semantics of concepts, which studies their connotation and denotation, if any. The epistemology of concepts is concerned with studying their function in the process of knowledge, and is often hardly distinguishable from the semantics of concepts. A natural language serves primarily the purposes of elaborating, recording and communicating common knowledge. From the point of view of the sociology of science, a scientific language is just a professional jargon. Propositions are the most important but not the sole objects of interest found in scientific knowledge or, for that matter, in any body of ideas. The concepts of formal science, or formal concepts, are referenceless.
