what's an idea?

Answer 1

There is a more universal question here and that is do Ideas exist. That is to say people view ideas as these non physical entities almost flying around that we kind of pull down. When in truth however an idea is a very universal idea of reality itself. Aristotle called ideas a "secondary substance". What he meant is as follows;

Say you have 10 people sitting around a table, you would say there are 10 ppl at a table. Now say you have 8 ppl and 2 monkeys at a table. Is there a phrase you can use that would combine them all into one catagory, the answer is yes we can say there are 10 animals sitting at a table since part of mans nature is animal (hence rational animal). We see from here that a secondary substance/idea is just a more universal perspective on reality.

Back to the original question we can now see that ideas are not a seperate phenomina apart from reality. yes your thought has reality to you in your mind, but it (if correct) is a correspondance to reality. This is why Einstein said that he, when learning physics was OBSERVING the universe.


just to add, as I was looking at other peoples answers I want to say that someone was referring to platos idea of form as idea. Yes plato did say sucha thing, however keep in mind that plato held that the idea of form and matter should be kept a secret and therefore called them "male and "female". The point I am getting it as that we have no idea what form is and what palto meant. AS to his second idea from aristotle it is clear to me that the author of that response has absolutely no clue as to what Aristotle was about in general as well as this specific idea. As his ans. is totally nonsensical. The idea this person presents in a corrupt manner at that is Aristotles catagories of teh mind, or how the mind functions, not what an idea per se is.

Answer 2

Well, if you ask Plato, it's the true Reality, or Form, of which actual instances of objects and qualities in the observable world are better or worse approximations, and by virtue of the existence of which (of the Ideas), those collections of perhaps superficially different seeming things are rationally sortable into categories, i.e. conforming, to a greater or lesser extent, to this or that particular Idea.

Then again, if you ask Aristotle, this is mystical fumfullery, and in fact it is by generalization from similarities in the form and function, regardless of perhaps differing substance, of real, existing physical objects, that we acquire a notion of generic, or "ideal" types or categories into which objects can be sorted, hence the "idea" is a mere abstraction of the everyday physical experience that constitutes the "true" reality.

In short, ¿quien sabe?

Answer 3

Definitions of idea:

* noun: the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about

Example: "It was not a good idea"

* noun: a personal view

Example: "He has an idea that we don't like him"

* noun: your intention; what you intend to do

Example: "The idea of the game is to capture all the pieces"

* noun: an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth

Example: "A rough idea how long it would take"

* noun: (music) melodic subject of a musical composition

Example: "The accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it"

Answer 4

An idea is a though that has not yet been put into action.

Answer 5

An idea is what results from your brain simulating reality. If your brain's concept of reality is accurate, your idea will work outside your head.

Answer 6

An idea is a thought received by mind which is tuned to receive it

Answer 7

an idea is a stream of thought that is so to speak picked up from a river of thoughts; it has the power to create something.---maybe someone put in the river...how the heck am i supossed to know.

Answer 8

an idea is a reason a feeling.

Answer 9

what is your idea of asking this question ?i don' know what is your idea ? do u know any idea ? if so , give me an idea to answer this question.

Answer 10

Temporary moment of brilliance attained by otherwise beings of lower intellect, leading to hapiness, money or just peace of mind and sometimes the destruction of millions.