Dictionary

primitive notion en · NOUN

Meanings

1. A concept that cannot be defined in terms of other concepts.
   • We do not find the primitive notion of cause in the action of the will on our nervous and muscular organization, and much less in the force communicated by the muscles to external objects. A perfect paralysis of the muscles could not prevent the internal act of the will. The primitive notion of personal cause, to wit, our own will, becomes the type and condition of the notion of cause in general, and of external impersonal causes. 1874, Louis Eugène Marie Bautain, Epitome of the history of philosophy, New York:Harper:
   • In geometry, points and lines are primitive notions.

Forms

Synonyms

primitive concept