1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Scheme

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. σχῆμα, figure, form, from the root σχε, seen in ἔχειν, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.), in the most general and common sense, a plan or design, especially of action with some definite purpose, often and more particularly in the derivatives “to scheme,” “schemer,” “scheming,” with a hostile or unfavourable notion of a plot or surreptitious plan, or of a selfish project or enterprise. The original meaning, derived from the Med. Lat. translation figura of σχῆμα, is that of a diagram or figure to illustrate a mathematical proposition and the like, a map or plan, &c., thus used of an analysis, a tabular statement; an epitome or synopsis, a table or system of classification. In Kantian philosophy, “ Schema ” is used of “ the product of the exercise of the transcendental imagination in giving generality to sense and particularity to thought,” and “ schematism of the theory, in the Kantian analysis of knowledge, of the use of the transcendental imagination as mediating between sense and understanding ” (Baldwin, Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, 1902, vol. ii.).