  Buridan thinks that we always cognize or conceive of something first as singular, but this also means that we first conceive of it as this or that, that is, we conceive of it as something. For him, this means that our concepts are from the very beginning loaded with some content and a fully singular concept picks out whatever it is of or represent in all circumstances. Such a concept is determinate and not vague, since it applies to only one thing, but it is also not what we first acquire, Buridan thinks. The first singular concepts acquired are so-called vague singular concepts. A vague concept is singular because it is about only one thing, but it is not determined what thing that is; examples of such concepts are ‘this human,’ ‘this cup,’ hence the name ‘vague singulars’. It is from these we arrive at determinate singular concepts by adding content and at universal concepts by abstracting away from singularizing circumstances.