Idea

In philosophy, ideas are usually construed as mental representational images of some object. Ideas can also be abstract concepts that do not present as mental images. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings. In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflexive, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place. A new or original idea can often lead to innovation."

Etymology

The word idea comes from Greek ἰδέα idea "form, pattern," from the root of ἰδεῖν idein, "to see."

Innate and adventitious ideas

One view on the nature of ideas is that there exist some ideas (called innate ideas) which are so general and abstract that they could not have arisen as a representation of any object of our perception, but rather were in some sense always present. These are distinguished from adventitious ideas which are images or concepts which are accompanied by the judgment that they are caused or occasioned by an external object.

Bad Idea

BAD IDEA is a British general interest magazine.

Overview

BAD IDEA was founded in September 2006 by journalists Jack Roberts and Daniel Stacey, both of whom were students at a magazine production class run by Clay Felker, the founder of New York Magazine, at the University of California.

BAD IDEA is known for its feature stories, which are often written in the first person. These have included insider accounts of life as a ‘honeytrapper’ – a private detective sent to ensnare potentially unfaithful husbands; an expose of Dubai’s sex trade; an investigation into the growth of ‘Web 2.0’ sex dating sites; and a feature following Iraq’s Kurds, as they search for DNA evidence of Saddam Hussein’s ‘Anfal’ genocide.

In May 2008, Portico Books released BAD IDEA – The Anthology, a paperback collection of writing from the magazine’s first two years. The magazine was described in a small review of the book published in the Observer as having ‘…hacked itself a niche as a Granta for the MySpace generation’, and the book received 4/5 stars in the Independent on Sunday, where it was said to be '… a great selection of work’.