Concept vs. Paradigm — What's the Difference?

Concepts are defined as abstract ideas or general notions that occur in the mind, in speech, or in thought. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of thoughts and beliefs.

In science and philosophy, a paradigm () is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitutes legitimate contributions to a field.

An abstract idea

A typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model

A general idea or understanding of something

A set of linguistic items that form mutually exclusive choices in particular syntactic roles

A plan or original idea

(in the traditional grammar of Latin, Greek, and other inflected languages) a table of all the inflected forms of a particular verb, noun, or adjective, serving as a model for other words of the same conjugation or declension.

A unifying idea or theme, especially for a product or service

One that serves as a pattern or model.

Having an experimental or strikingly different design, especially to test or demonstrate new features

A set or list of all the inflectional forms of a word or of one of its grammatical categories

An abstract and general idea; an abstraction.

A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

Understanding retained in the mind, from experience, reasoning and imagination; a generalization (generic, basic form), or abstraction (mental impression), of a particular set of instances or occurrences (specific, though different, recorded manifestations of the concept).

A pattern, a way of doing something, especially a pattern of thought, a system of beliefs, a conceptual framework.

(generic programming) A description of supported operations on a type, including their syntax and semantics.

An example serving as the model for such a pattern.

To conceive; to dream up

(linguistics) A set of all forms which contain a common element, especially the set of all inflectional forms of a word or a particular grammatical category.

An abstract general conception; a notion; a universal.

An example; a model; a pattern.

An abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances

An example of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its different forms of inflection.

An illustration, as by a parable or fable.

A theory providing a unifying explanation for a set of phenomena in some field, which serves to suggest methods to test the theory and develop a fuller understanding of the topic, and which is considered useful until it is be replaced by a newer theory providing more accurate explanations or explanations for a wider range of phenomena.

Systematic arrangement of all the inflected forms of a word

A standard or typical example;

The class of all items that can be substituted into the same position (or slot) in a grammatical sentence (are in paradigmatic relation with one another)

The generally accepted perspective of a particular discipline at a given time;