Subconcept

Posted by Bob on December 28, 2001

In Reply to: Subconcept posted by ESC on December 28, 2001

: : can someone explain me please what is it subconcept?

: : I took it from the sentece: Although the four conservation principles initially appear simple, they contain subconcepts.....

: I couldn't find "subconcept" in a dictionary either. But from looking at several Web sites, it appears to relate to a way of formally organizing information or knowledge. A "concept," according to the World Book Dictionary, is a "general notion or idea; thought." Details or specific information would be listed under the main concept. Anyone else have an explanation?

It's a bit like looking at an outline. If you consider each of the "four conservations principles" (whatever they may be) as Concepts, then subdivisions under each one would qualify as a sub-concept. Not an elegant word. What the writer intended was not to show how these "subconcepts" were subordinate to each principle, but how the apparent simplicity of the principle concealed complexity when one examines its underlying constituent parts. The author would have been better off re-thinking the sentence than inventing a word.