The Similarity in Meaning between a Mental Concept and the Thing it Depicts

The topic of this paper is the similarity in meaning between a mental concept and the thing it depicts. The question that it wants to pursue is the following: is there a similarity between a concept and the external instance from which it is abstracted and to which it then applied? This paper utilizes the descriptive/analytical method of research. Here, we want to prove the hypothesis that every concept is similar to the instances from which it is abstracted. The discussion surrounding the relation between a concept and its source of abstraction is one of the most fundamental discussions [of epistemology]. The conclusions of such a discussion can have far-reaching effects upon the many of the subjects covered in philosophy. The most important conclusions that this research paper has achieved is the following: 1. Every concept is harmonious and similar to the thing it depicts and the thing that it is parallel to in the external world and in the mind. 2. In the Transcendent Wisdom the idea that a concept that is a quiddity matches with its instance is founded on the states of existence, the correspondence of the worlds and the fact that existential realities are one in their quiddities. 3. The secondary logical intelligible is the concept whose attribution and occurrence take place in the mind. Also, the relation between the subject and predicate in propositions in which such intelligibles occur is found in the mind. Such concepts possess mental instances that are parallel to them. 4. According to the view of Sadr al-Mutallihin, philosophical intelligibles possess something that parallels them and that they depict. This thing is similar to the concept [that depicts them] and they match with it.