Mental activity
speculation, reflection, deliberation, cerebration, ideation, meditation, rumination, perceiving, apprehending, seeing, consideration, reasoning, intuition, imagination, logical process, perception, insight, understanding, viewpoint, concept, brainwork, thinking, knowing, realizing, discerning, rationalizing, drawing conclusions, concluding, inferring, deducing, deriving, deduction, inducing, logic, judging, rationalization, ratiocination, judgment, argumentation, cogitation, contemplation, cognition, intellection, slant*, brainstorm*, twist*, wrinkle*; see also acumen.
The result of mental activity
idea, plan, view, fancy, notion, impression, image, understanding, appreciation, conception, observation, belief, feeling, opinion, guess, inference, theory, hypothesis, supposition, assumption, intuition, conjecture, deduction, postulate, premise, knowledge, evaluation, assessment, appraisal, estimate, verdict, finding, decision, determination, reflection, consideration, abstraction, conviction, tenet, presumption, intellectualization, ideation, surmise, doctrine, principle, drift, calculation, caprice, reverie, sentiment, care, worry, anxiety, uneasiness, dream.
The ideas of a given time, place, people, etc.
philosophy, way of life, outlook, views, principles, worldview, Weltanschauung (German), Zeitgeist (German), spirit, custom, mores.
Care or attention
heed, thoughtfulness, solicitude; see attention 1, 2, care 2. See syn. study at idea.