Concept

Concept
概念
Gainen
Information
Type	Fundamental Idea
Purpose	Defined what a thing is
Debut
Light Novel	Volume 6 (mentioned) Volume 10 (elucidated)

A concept (概念, Gainen) is the meaning content (意味内容, Imi Naiyō) of a thing. This is what the thing is in its most fundamental nature, or, the core meaning that merely defines what something is.

For example, the concept of war is the whatness of "War"; it shapes the experience of war itself, causing conflict between races, groups, and nations, and involving armed forces, violence, competition, and the harsh realities of killing and being killed. Likewise, the concept of games brings various forms of play into being, such as sports and board games and involving strategies, tactics, decision-making and the enjoyment of the activity. The concept of nature may refer to the physical world, its phenomena, and including ecosystems, animals and plants. Whereas the concept of doubt denotes skepticism, causing feelings of uncertainty or a lack of conviction about something and prompting individuals to question accepted beliefs or something.

Einzig stated that a concept is eternal and immortal, which is, it cannot be destroyed because it does not exist in a physical sense. Instead, it can become stale or have its definition shift over time. According to Schwi, there are theoretically an infinite number of concepts in the world.

When humanity imagine the divine and the Flow is satisfied, this act unknowingly assigns identities to concepts, allowing them to become sentient and manifest as Ether.

List of Concepts

These are concepts that have been mentioned in the Light Novel:

Concept (English)	Concept (Japanese)
Concept of distance	『距離』という概念
Concept of video games	テレビゲームという概念
Concept of playful giggling and fun?	〝キャッキャウフフ〟という概念
Concept of physical strength?	体力って概念
Concept of privacy	〝プライバシー〟って概念
Concept of games	ゲームという概念
Concept of absolute dominion	絶対支配権という概念
Concept of death	『死』の概念
Concept of war	『戦』という概念
Concept of nature	〝自然〟の概念
Concept of strongest/strength	『最強』という概念
Concept of evolution	進化という概念
Concept of omnipotent and omniscient	全知全能の概念
Concept of doubt	狐疑の概念
Concept of infrastructure	インフラの概念
Concept of battlefront	戦線という概念
Concept of forging	〝鍛〟の概念
Concept of essence	神髄の概念
Concept of false essence	『改竄神髄』の概念
Concept of cuteness	可愛いという概念

Trivia

• The simplest way to understand this term is through Avicenna's interpretation of essence (ماهية, māhiyya). According to Avicenna, essence is a concept that causes existence; anything that comes into existence is the result of an essence (concept), which exists in the mind before it is instantiated in reality. It is important to note that the essence discussed here differs from the essence introduced in the series. In the series, essence or ether is more accurately interpreted in relation to Avicenna's interpretation of existence (وجود, wujūd), which refers to the fact that something actually exists in reality, similar to how ether serves as evidence of the authenticity of gods.