Single Idea 16289

[catalogued under 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 8. Abstractionism Critique]

Full Idea

We cannot really be talking about the things whence an abstraction-like entity is abstracted if there are no such things.

Gist of Idea

We can't account for an abstraction as 'from' something if the something doesn't exist

Source

David Lewis (On the Plurality of Worlds [1986], 3.3)

Book Reference

Lewis,David: 'On the Plurality of Worlds' [Blackwell 2001], p.173


A Reaction

Sounds like a killer blow, but I don't think so. I can't think of a concept which doesn't have a possible basis in reality, assuming that it might be a complex assemblage of abstracted components.