Concept

From the Middle Low German begripen, meaning to grab onto or grasp, the lexical meaning of this term is fourfold: firstly, as spatial extension (for example, the city has a large Begreb); secondly, as something given in an abbreviated form (for example, to give one’s opinion in a short form); thirdly, to be in the process of doing something. Here a distinction is made between more or less awareness of being in the midst of, and thus it can be an army in the midst of an attack (awareness) or the sun in the midst of rising (presumably no awareness); fourthly, as an idea or conception or a group of such, also as an image pertaining to consciousness or awareness.1 This fourth meaning of concept is by far the most complex and is again divided into four sub-definitions: (1) Having an idea, understanding or opinion of something; (2) A group of ideas of what is central to certain kinds of things, properties, actions, etc. This relates to the idea that most words do not refer to one single thing but to a group of things or an abstraction or generalization of such; (3) An idea of something impalpable, unreal, abstract, for example, logic is the science of pure concepts and abstract ideas; (4) Understanding, one’s ability to comprehend, intelligence. This last group of meanings makes up the majority of the instances of how Kierkegaard uses “concept” in his work. Whenever this is not the case, Begreb is sometimes translated into English with other words than “concept,” which is also the case when it is used to express “opinion.”2