ideatic

Ideatic is an English adjective describing something pertaining to ideas, or to the realm of ideas and mental content. It is used to characterize forms of thought, representation, or conception that are conceptual rather than perceptual or practical. The word is formed from idea, with the common adjectival suffix -atic, and is generally found in scholarly or literary contexts.

In philosophy and cognitive studies, ideatic discussions concern the structures and content of thought itself—the ideatic, or idea-based, aspects of cognition. In this sense, ideatic content contrasts with perceptual content (how the world appears to the senses) or operational content (how a plan is executed). The term can appear in discussions of concept formation, symbolic representation, or the analysis of mental imagery.

In modern English, ideatic is relatively rare and often used interchangeably with ideational; however, ideational is the more common term for relating to ideas or the process of forming them. The specialization of ideatic tends to appear in philosophical or historical texts, or in discussions of theoretical frameworks where a precise distinction between ideatic and perceptual or causal levels is emphasized.

Related terms include ideational, conceptual, epistemic, and cognitive. The word conveys a focus on ideas as such, rather than their practical application or empirical manifestation, and is most appropriate when the emphasis is on belief, representation, or abstract content.