Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to analyze the most popular definitions of the concept and to highlight its intrinsic characteristics. The evolution of the nature of the term “concept” is traced from the Middle Ages to present-day times when it has become a basic concept of linguistic culturology. The three main approaches clarifying its nature are viewed there – the views of the representatives of the cognitive, linguistic and cultorological fields are discussed. The complexity of its defining comes from the bilateral relationship between language and consciousness – the categories of consciousness have been realized through linguistic categories and they have been determined at the same time by the latter; culture determines the concept. The concept is characterized by a high degree of abstraction for its bilateral nature. All the angles are complementary, not in conflict with one another and reveal a complex multi-layered structure of the concept.
