conceptual

Conceptual is an adjective derived from concept, with senses related to ideas, mental representations, and abstract thought. It can describe things that exist in the realm of ideas rather than as concrete, tangible objects, or that are organized around a concept or set of concepts. In research and analysis, conceptual work involves forming, testing, and refining ideas about how something is structured or understood, sometimes through a conceptual framework or model that guides inquiry, without specifying particulars of implementation.

In philosophy and cognitive science, conceptual issues concern the nature of concepts, categorization, mental representation, and the processes by which people form and manipulate ideas. Conceptual analysis seeks to clarify meanings and the relationships between ideas.

In art and design, conceptual refers to approaches where the central idea or concept drives the work, rather than its material form. Conceptual art, associated with artists such as Sol LeWitt, Lawrence Weiner, and Joseph Kosuth in the 1960s, prioritizes ideas, instructions, or propositions over traditional aesthetic criteria; the artwork may be a proposal, a text, or a documented process.

In information systems, education, and business, the term is used for high-level representations such as conceptual models or conceptual frameworks that describe structure and relationships before implementation details are determined.

Overall, conceptual thinking emphasizes abstraction, generalization, and the exploration of ideas as the basis for understanding, planning, and creative activity.