Konkrétumok

Konkrétumok is a term used in Hungarian philosophy and linguistics to denote concrete entities or particular instances, as opposed to abstract concepts. The singular form is konkretum and the plural is konkretumok. The term derives from Latin concretus and has been carried into European philosophical vocabularies to refer to things that can be perceived, touched, or directly experienced, rather than universal properties or ideas.

In semantics and ontology, konkretumok are referents that possess determinate existence in a given time and place. They include concrete objects, events, or concrete situations, such as a konkretum személy vagy tárgy, whereas abstractumok refer to universals, properties, or ideas without a fixed spatiotemporal location. The distinction is used in the analysis of noun phrases, predication, and the formation of definitions, helping to separate what can be directly linked to the world from what remains in the realm of thought.

Theoretical discussions about konkretumok concern whether they constitute a basic ontological category or whether the distinction between concrete and abstract is primarily a matter of epistemic access or linguistic practice. The boundary between concrete and abstract can be fuzzy; some terms function as concrete in one context and as abstract in another, depending on how they are used or interpreted.

Applications of the concept appear in Hungarian educational and philosophical writing to illustrate how language refers to real-world entities, how categorization operates, and how definitions rely on concrete exemplars. See also: abstraktum, fogalom, nyelvfilozófia, ontológia.