There are two prevailing theories in contemporary philosophy which attempt to explain the nature of concepts. The representational theory of mind proposes that concepts are mental representations, while the semantic theory of concepts holds that they are abstract objects. Ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear to the mind as images as some ideas do.
A concept is a cognitive unit of meaning— an abstract idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a “unit of knowledge,” built from other units which act as a concept’s characteristics. A concept is typically associated with a corresponding representation in a language or symbology such as a word.
Currently many designers and engineers make their daily living by designing concepts, that some day may turn into a reality. A few days ago I found a website called Concept Mobiles (www.ConceptMobiles.com). I noticed that they collect informormation throught various websites and feature them on the same page. They’ve got Mobile Phone Concepts, Car Concepts, Laptop Concepts, Gadget Concepts, Furniture Concepts.