Where does conception collide?

In reproductive biology, a conception is the fertilization of an egg by a sperm and the beginning of a pregnancy. Hertwig's 1876 study of sea urchin eggs, Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Bildung, Befruchtung und Theilung des thierischen Eies, gave the first clear demonstration that fertilization is the fusion of a single sperm nucleus with the egg nucleus, establishing what physically happens at conception. Wassarman's 1999 review Mammalian fertilization set out the molecular steps by which sperm and egg recognize, bind, and fuse to form a single-celled zygote. Here the referent is a biological event in a body that starts a new organism, not a person's understanding of a topic or a philosopher's contested idea.[1][2]

Unit

One fertilization event, forming a single-celled zygote

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Dated clinically from the last menstrual period or confirmed by rising hCG, ultrasound, and, in assisted reproduction, the observed fusion of gametes

In developmental and cognitive psychology, a conception is the organized mental representation a person holds of some domain, that is, the way they understand and reason about it. Piaget's 1929 The Child's Conception of the World (first published in French in 1926) used the term for the structured, often nonscientific understandings children form about causality, life, and physical reality, and showed that these shift with age. Carey's 1985 Conceptual Change in Childhood made the reorganization of such conceptions, from an intuitive framework toward a more scientific one, a central research problem. Here the referent is a mental structure inside a learner's head, not a fertilization event or a shared political idea.[3][4]

Unit

One person's organized understanding of a domain

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Elicited through clinical interviews, prediction and explanation tasks, and probes of category and causal judgments

In political philosophy and jurisprudence, a conception is one specific interpretation of a shared and more abstract concept, so that a single concept can be filled in by rival conceptions. Gallie's 1956 Essentially Contested Concepts argued that some ideas, such as justice or democracy, inevitably sustain competing and endlessly disputed uses. Rawls's 1971 A Theory of Justice sharpened this into an explicit distinction: people share one concept of justice, the general role it plays, while holding different conceptions, the particular principles that spell it out. Here the referent is an interpretation advanced within an argument, not a fertilization event or a learner's mental model.[5][6]

Unit

One articulated interpretation of a shared concept

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Set out and compared by stating its principles and testing them against cases and against rival conceptions