Hypothesis vs. Idea

Hypothesisnoun

(sciences) Used loosely, a tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon or scientific problem that can be tested by further observation, investigation and/or experimentation. As a scientific term of art, see the attached quotation. Compare to theory, and quotation given there.

Ideanoun

(philosophy) An abstract archetype of a given thing, compared to which real-life examples are seen as imperfect approximations; pure essence, as opposed to actual examples.

Hypothesisnoun

(general) An assumption taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.

Ideanoun

(obsolete) The conception of someone or something as representing a perfect example; an ideal.

Hypothesisnoun

(grammar) The antecedent of a conditional statement.

Ideanoun

(obsolete) The form or shape of something; a quintessential aspect or characteristic.

Hypothesisnoun

A supposition; a proposition or principle which is supposed or taken for granted, in order to draw a conclusion or inference for proof of the point in question; something not proved, but assumed for the purpose of argument, or to account for a fact or an occurrence; as, the hypothesis that head winds detain an overdue steamer.

‘An hypothesis being a mere supposition, there are no other limits to hypotheses than those of the human imagination.’;

Ideanoun

An image of an object that is formed in the mind or recalled by the memory.

‘The mere idea of you is enough to excite me.’;

Hypothesisnoun

A tentative theory or supposition provisionally adopted to explain certain facts, and to guide in the investigation of others; hence, frequently called a working hypothesis.

Ideanoun

More generally, any result of mental activity; a thought, a notion; a way of thinking.

Hypothesisnoun

a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations

Ideanoun

A conception in the mind of something to be done; a plan for doing something, an intention.

‘I have an idea of how we might escape.’;

Hypothesisnoun

a tentative theory about the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena;

‘a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory’; ‘he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices’;

Ideanoun

A purposeful aim or goal; intent

‘If you keep sweet-talking her like that, you're going to talk her right out of her pants.’;

Hypothesisnoun

a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

Ideanoun

A vague or fanciful notion; a feeling or hunch; an impression.

‘He had the wild idea that if he leant forward a little, he might be able to touch the mountain-top.’;

Hypothesis

A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it.

Ideanoun

(music) A musical theme or melodic subject.

Ideanoun

The transcript, image, or picture of a visible object, that is formed by the mind; also, a similar image of any object whatever, whether sensible or spiritual.

‘Her sweet idea wandered through his thoughts.’; ‘Being the right idea of your fatherBoth in your form and nobleness of mind.’; ‘This representation or likeness of the object being transmitted from thence [the senses] to the imagination, and lodged there for the view and observation of the pure intellect, is aptly and properly called its idea.’;

Ideanoun

A general notion, or a conception formed by generalization.

‘Alice had not the slightest idea what latitude was.’;

Ideanoun

Hence: Any object apprehended, conceived, or thought of, by the mind; a notion, conception, or thought; the real object that is conceived or thought of.

‘Whatsoever the mind perceives in itself, or as the immediate object of perception, thought, or undersanding, that I call idea.’;

Ideanoun

A belief, option, or doctrine; a characteristic or controlling principle; as, an essential idea; the idea of development.

‘That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.’; ‘What is now "idea" for us? How infinite the fall of this word, since the time where Milton sang of the Creator contemplating his newly-created world, -"how it showed . . . Answering his great idea," -to its present use, when this person "has an idea that the train has started," and the other "had no idea that the dinner would be so bad!"’;

Ideanoun

A plan or purpose of action; intention; design.

‘I shortly afterwards set off for that capital, with an idea of undertaking while there the translation of the work.’;

Ideanoun

A rational conception; the complete conception of an object when thought of in all its essential elements or constituents; the necessary metaphysical or constituent attributes and relations, when conceived in the abstract.

Ideanoun

A fiction object or picture created by the imagination; the same when proposed as a pattern to be copied, or a standard to be reached; one of the archetypes or patterns of created things, conceived by the Platonists to have excited objectively from eternity in the mind of the Deity.

‘Thence to behold this new-created world,The addition of his empire, how it showedIn prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,Answering his great idea.’;

Ideanoun

the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about;

‘it was not a good idea’; ‘the thought never entered my mind’;

Ideanoun

a personal view;

‘he has an idea that we don't like him’;

Ideanoun

an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth;

‘an estimate of what it would cost’; ‘a rough idea how long it would take’;

Ideanoun

your intention; what you intend to do;

‘he had in mind to see his old teacher’; ‘the idea of the game is to capture all the pieces’;

Ideanoun

(music) melodic subject of a musical composition;

‘the theme is announced in the first measures’; ‘the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it’;

Ideanoun

a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action

‘recently, the idea of linking pay to performance has caught on’; ‘it's a good idea to do some research before you go’;

Ideanoun

a mental impression

‘our menu list will give you some idea of how interesting a low-fat diet can be’;

Ideanoun

an opinion or belief

‘nineteenth-century ideas about drinking’;

Ideanoun

the aim or purpose

‘I took a job with the idea of getting some money together’;

Ideanoun

(in Platonic thought) an eternally existing pattern of which individual things in any class are imperfect copies.

Ideanoun

(in Kantian thought) a concept of pure reason, not empirically based in experience.

Idea

In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are abstract concepts. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object.