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Full Idea
It is natural to have a generative conception of abstracts (like the iterative conception of sets). The abstracts are formed at stages, with the abstracts formed at any given stage being the abstracts of those concepts of objects formed at prior stages.
Gist of Idea
A generative conception of abstracts proposes stages, based on concepts of previous objects
Source
Kit Fine (Replies on 'Limits of Abstraction' [2005], 1)
Book Ref
-: 'Philosophical Studies' [-], p.370
A Reaction
See 10567 for Fine's later modification. This may not guarantee 'levels', but it implies some sort of conceptual priority between abstract entities.
Related Idea
Idea 10567 We can create objects from conditions, rather than from concepts [Fine,K]
| 10502 | We can rise by degrees through abstraction, with higher levels representing more things [Arnauld,A/Nicole,P] |
| 9578 | If objects are just presentation, we get increasing abstraction by ignoring their properties [Frege] |
| 10563 | A generative conception of abstracts proposes stages, based on concepts of previous objects [Fine,K] |
| 9927 | Mathematics has ascended to higher and higher levels of abstraction [Burgess/Rosen] |
| 9930 | Abstraction is on a scale, of sets, to attributes, to type-formulas, to token-formulas [Burgess/Rosen] |
| 10524 | There is a hierarchy of abstraction, based on steps taken by equivalence relations [Hale] |