Idea is an abstract archetype of a given thing, compared to which real-life examples are seen as imperfect approximations; pure essence, as opposed to actual examples. It’s the conception of someone or something as representing a perfect example; an ideal. The form or shape of something; a quintessential aspect or characteristic. An image of an object that is formed in the mind or recalled by the memory is also called idea. It’s a fiction object or picture created by the imagination; the same when proposed as a pattern to be copied, or a standard to be reached; one of the archetypes or patterns of created things, conceived by the Platonists to have excited objectively from eternity in the mind of the Deity.
In philosophy, the term idea has been used to cover a range of concepts. Ideas are often construed as mental representational images; i.e., images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings. In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place.
In order to understand the idea, we have to understand the idea and the concept and the difference between them.
- An idea is an original thought, something to try out, explore and experiment with or Idea refers to the mental impressions or mental effort towards the specific thing.
- while as a concept is a finished proposal, which incorporates an original idea but also addresses the relevant objective identified in the target problem or in simpler terms concept refers to the procedure towards that thing
- An idea is an original thought and a concept is a finished proposal.
From the standpoint of tactical execution, an “idea” is a rough notion or inkling in our head about something we like or want to do. It has raw edges, and often needs some fine-tuning and pruning, and even further deliberation of additional inputs before it can take a viable form for planning and execution. On the other hand, a concept is more or less the final form of an idea, which has been gone through the process of fine-tuning and pruning of its raw edges.
Generally, when it is a “concept”, one can mentally see the start-point, end-point, and the development path of transition points in between from the standpoint of execution.
With this enlightenment, one just needs to sit down to translate the “concept” into a systematic game plan for the immediate manifestation of the “concept” into a physical reality in the real world.
In the business or entrepreneurial world, a “concept” leads to a “venture”, which in turn becomes a “business”, when a team is put together to get the productive outcome or concrete deliverable shipped out to the customer. But at first, we have to understand where from that concept came from. Is that an Idea?
Necessity is the Mother of the invention is one of the famous proverbs to support the concept behind the idea. And one more thing I would like to add is that idea precedes matter. It means the existence of matter is because of an idea of its existence. And the idea comes when we have some situations which have led us to the idea generation.
Where do they come from!
• Brainstorming – either alone or with others
• Observation – look at things, see the possibilities
• Open-mindedness – be ready to accept the new and different
• Epiphany – requires open-mindedness
• Curiosity – how was this made/created? How can I do this?
• Ingenuity – see the possibilities, not the obstacles
• “Eye” – the best way I can describe this is by relating it to photography . . . as you spend more and more time behind a camera, you will begin to look at everything as if through a camera view-finder . . . I miss view-finders
• Practice – just like mimicking the style of your favourite painter or author, thinking creatively can become a wonderful habit
• Research accidents – looking for one thing and finding another
• Environment – where we live
• Mother Nature – after all, nature is the ultimate pallet and canvas
• Necessity – it’s the Mother of Invention!
