[Hank Kerchief]

Uh, second thought ... the concepts aren't actually part of the thing. They're in our mind, and we generate the concepts as we consider the characteristics of the thing. Or so it seems to me.

You're making too much of it. Tell me what a concept is. Do it without describing or naming the attributes of a concept.

Tell me what any particular concept is. Do it without describing or naming its attributes.

Of course you can't, because that is what anything is.

For example:

What is the concept "dog?" If I say, the concept "dog" is the concept that identifies four legged animals of the canine genus, (assuming it is correct) what I have just written are the attributes of the concept dog, namely, "an identification," restricted to "four legged animals," and "canines."

Hank

[PatrickHenry]

You're making too much of it.

Well, this is a philosophy thread. We're supposed to use lots of big words to beat stuff to death.

Anyway, I said the concept [of dog] is in our minds, because if we all vanished, there wouldn't be any concepts. There would still be dogs, with all of their attributes, but no concept of "doginess."