A theoretical note on concepts and the need for Cyclic Concept Maps

This article examines concepts and propositions from a theoretical perspective, and establishes the need for and develops an extension to Concept Maps (CMaps), called Cyclic Concept Maps (Cyclic CMaps). Cyclic CMaps are considered to be an appropriate tool for representing knowledge of functional or dynamical relationships between concepts. CMaps, on the other hand, are viewed as an appropriate tool for representing hierarchic or static knowledge. The two maps complement each other and collectively capture a larger domain of knowledge, thus forming a more effective knowledge representation tool.