Surprisingly, using the adjective "conceptual" in certain contexts can offend the other person. But first things first. Today we will find out the meaning of the word, its synonyms and explain the meaning.
Origin
There is nothing remarkable in the history of the word. The noun "concept" came into our language from French. According to some sources, in the first third, and according to other sources, in the first quarter of the 19th century. Both then and now, a concept is a certain way of understanding and explaining phenomena and facts; this word also means the basis of a particular theory.
Yes, the definition has been in the language for a long time, but it is only now becoming popular. For example, it's fashionable these days to say, "It's not conceptual!" What this means, we will understand only if we turn to the meaning of the adjective "conceptual". It will be interesting.
Meaning
Without an explanatory dictionary it would be difficult for us, but with it it would be easy and free. Our friend, containing a huge number of words,always helps us out. So he says that the object of study means the following:
"Something that has a new, independent, serious concept or is somehow related to the noun 'concept'." For example: "Peter Ivanovich's doctoral dissertation is quite worthy of defense, as it is conceptual."
The reader may wonder how such a word could leave the academic circles and get into everyday use? There is nothing miraculous here. Often people are attracted by beautiful words, and they use them not only as God puts it on their souls, but with certain liberties. How this is possible, we will show below.
Synonyms
. Here is the list:
- semantic;
- fundamental;
- independent;
- new;
- important;
- principled;
- innovative;
- system;
- meaningful.
As you can see, there is a reason for the definition of "conceptual", because it includes almost all the meanings of the above adjectives.
As a curse
Going to the most interesting part: how can you insult, knowing the meaning of the word "conceptual"? It is not difficult to make such a trick if you clearly understand the meaning of what you are talking about. But first, a little prelude.
There was once a philosopher and writer Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov (1856-1919). He believed that he was obscenely insulting a person when he called him empty. Imagine it was like this. Probably, now it sounds ridiculous and ridiculous, how many different words we hear every day! They generously pour on us from the Internet and the TV screen, and here the adjective "empty", and that's it - the light has faded.
Laughter with laughter, but for scientists, the object of research with the negative particle “not” is still a terrible curse. If, at the pre-defense of a dissertation in psychology, philology or philosophy, the applicant is told that his work is not conceptual, then this is, consider, the end of a career. A person was not allowed into the circle of those who are especially close to science.
So the phrase "not conceptual!" is a curse for those who understand. In principle, calling a person empty or non-conceptual is one and the same thing. The speaker states that the object of insult or ridicule lacks a personal beginning, nothing really significant can be said about him, in a word, not a person, but a walking stamp. Another interpretation is less sophisticated, it asserts the absence of interests, talents, inclinations, abilities, principles. In other words, this exquisite curse is a scientific analogue of the well-known expression "empty space".
This game can be mastered by anyone, it is only important to understand what the word "concept" and its derivatives mean.
