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Single Idea 10581

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 3. Abstraction by mind ]

Full Idea

Whether others can abstract their ideas, they best can tell. For myself, I find I have a faculty of imagining, or representing to myself, only the idea of those particular things I have perceived, and of compounding and dividing them.

Gist of Idea

I can only combine particulars in imagination; I can't create 'abstract' ideas

Source

George Berkeley (The Principles of Human Knowledge [1710], 10)

Book Ref

Berkeley,George: 'The Principles of Human Knowledge etc.', ed/tr. Warnock,G.J. [Fontana 1962], p.49

A Reaction

He is admitting mixing experiences, but always particulars, never abstract. His examples are 'man' and 'motion'. Compare Aristotle Idea 9067. Berkeley is, I think, trapped in a false imagistic view of thought. My image of Plato blurs young and old.

Related Idea

Idea 9067 Many memories of the same item form a single experience [Aristotle]

The 26 ideas with the same theme [singling out properties and parts of reality for special attention]:

9092 Abstracting A from B generates truth, as long as the connection is not denied [Aquinas]
9101 Abstractive cognition knows universals abstracted from many singulars [William of Ockham]
9102 If an animal approached from a distance, we might abstract 'animal' from one instance [William of Ockham]
10499 We know by abstraction because we only understand composite things a part at a time [Arnauld,A/Nicole,P]
6711 The mind creates abstract ideas by considering qualities separated from their objects [Berkeley]
10581 I can only combine particulars in imagination; I can't create 'abstract' ideas [Berkeley]
9079 We can focus our minds on what is common to a whole class, neglecting other aspects [Mill]
20363 Leaves are unequal, but we form the concept 'leaf' by discarding their individual differences [Nietzsche]
9575 Husserl identifies a positive mental act of unification, and a negative mental act for differences [Husserl, by Frege]
9032 Before we can abstract from an instance of violet, we must first recognise it [Price,HH]
9035 If judgement of a characteristic is possible, that part of abstraction must be complete [Price,HH]
9034 There may be degrees of abstraction which allow recognition by signs, without full concepts [Price,HH]
9036 There is pre-verbal sign-based abstraction, as when ice actually looks cold [Price,HH]
9037 Intelligent behaviour, even in animals, has something abstract about it [Price,HH]
8775 A big flea is a small animal, so 'big' and 'small' cannot be acquired by abstraction [Geach]
8776 We cannot learn relations by abstraction, because their converse must be learned too [Geach]
15493 Memory requires abstraction, as reminders of what cannot be fully remembered [Martin,CB]
15450 Maybe abstraction is just mereological subtraction [Lewis]
18525 Mental abstraction does not make what is abstracted mind-dependent [Heil]
10203 We apprehend small, finite mathematical structures by abstraction from patterns [Shapiro]
8966 Properties are facets of objects, only discussable separately by an act of abstraction [Lowe]
16561 We can abstract by taking an exemplary case and ignoring the detail [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
10998 The mind abstracts ways things might be, which are nonetheless real [Read]
4460 Abstractions are formed by the mind when it concentrates on some, but not all, the features of a thing [Moreland]
8954 Geometrical circles cannot identify a circular paint patch, presumably because they lack something [Szabó]
19736 Neural networks can extract the car-ness of a car, or the chair-ness of a chair [New Sci.]