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F IDEA - Its Meaning, Its Distinction From Phantasm

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Amethyst Chiong
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16 views

F IDEA - Its Meaning, Its Distinction From Phantasm

Uploaded by

Amethyst Chiong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Meaning of IDEA

An idea is a product of a mental operation called ​abstraction​. Its oral or written expression is the
term​. An abstraction is a mental act that discerns the accidental and the essential features or
aspects of an object (Babor, 2003:22). The accidental features of an object are those that are parts
of the object but do not make the object an object. Examples of accidental features are color, size,
shape, etc. The essential features are those that are necessary for an object to be that object. For
example, the capability of a human being to think makes a human being human.
So abstraction may be defined as the act by which the mind draws a universal or essential feature
from things, leaving behind their individual traits or accidental features.

Since idea is the mental product of abstraction, it is the mental “representation” or “image” of a
thing whereby we know the essence or nature of a thing. Obviously, as a mental product, ideas are
found only in the mind, not in things. The idea of a “chalk” is found in the mind of the one who
knows what a piece of chalk is. Thus, ideas may be defined as the intellectual or an abstract
representation of a thing found in the mind. As the term is the oral or written manifestation of an
idea, so ideas can be defined or expressed by meaningful terms. For example, the idea “chalk” can
be expressed by the following terms: it is used for writing on the blackboard.

Idea is not Phantasm

An idea is not a phantasm, because phantasm is a sensible image or representation of the material
features of a thing existing in the imagination. It is a kind of pictorial image which bears a shape or
figure, the mental product of imagination. Thus, if someone​[RG1] ​ imagines his or her mother there is
a kind of picture or image of a mother in his or her head. However, not all things being imagined
produce a pictorial image. In the case of abstract things like honesty or generosity, the idea is
usually represented by the respective terms in the imagination. The representation is done through
phonetics. If Jorho imagines “love,” what is in his head is either the term “love” (phonetic
representation) or perhaps, a figure of a heart as a symbol of love, or representations depending on
how “love” is perceived or understood by him.

Idea and phantasm differ in several ways, but the most important difference is that idea is
universal while phantasm is individual. For example, each one has a particular phantasm of our
mother, making it individual. But there is only one correct idea of a mother, which is a female being
who has a child of her own. This idea of a mother is applied to all mothers. Hence, it is universal.

Other differences are: an idea is formed by the intellect, while phantasm is produced by the
imagination; an idea is constant, while phantasm is changeable; an idea may become complex,
while phantasm remains simple.
​The ELEMENTS of IDEA: COMPREHENSION and EXTENSION

Comprehension​ is the sum total of all essential features contained in an idea. For example, the
comprehension of the idea “chalk” is that it is a school supply, writing instrument, material
substance, non-living. The comprehension of the idea “tree” is: plant, woody, one main stem. So, if
someone asks for the meaning of a term, give the comprehension. Hurley (1991) calls this
connotation​ instead of comprehension.

Extension​ is the range or scope of individuals and classes to which an idea may be applied. The idea
“school supply” is applied to all kinds of school supplies. The idea “living” is applied to all living
things, such as humans, animals and plants. So, extension refers to the examples of the idea, for
instance, extension of Philosophy: Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics, and the like. For Hurley (1991), this
element is called d​ enotation of ideas​.

The Relation of Comprehension and Extension

As comprehension increases, the extension decreases and vice versa.

COMPREHENSION EXTENSION

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Substance spirits, minerals, plants, brutes, humans
Material substance minerals, plants, brutes, humans
Living material substance plants, brutes, humans
Sentient living material substance brutes, humans
Rational sentient living material substance humans

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Piñon (1973) says that in the natural order of a proposition (sentence), it is required that the term
of more comprehension (with less extension) must be used as the subject, and the term of less
comprehension (with more extension) be placed as predicate.

Example:

A bird is a warm-blooded, feathered, egg-laying animal having wings.

It should not be written as follows:

A warm-blooded, feathered, egg-laying animal having wings is a bird.

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