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Single Idea 11102
[filed under theme 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 1. Abstract Thought
]
Full Idea
Applying the operator '-ness' or 'class of' to abstract general terms, we get second-level abstract singular terms.
Gist of Idea
Apply '-ness' or 'class of' to abstract general terms, to get second-level abstract singular terms
Source
Willard Quine (Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis [1950], 5)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.78
A Reaction
This is the derivation of abstract concepts by naming classes, rather than by deriving equivalence classes. Any theory which doesn't allow multi-level abstraction is self-evidently hopeless. Quine says Frege and Russell get numbers this way.
The
22 ideas
with the same theme
[general concepts not about concrete objects]:
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9569
|
The origin of geometry started in sensation, then moved to calculation, and then to reason
[Proclus]
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10503
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We abstract forms from appearances, and acquire knowledge of immaterial things
[Aquinas]
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10509
|
Understanding consists entirely of grasping abstracted species
[Aquinas]
|
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5827
|
A species of thing is an abstract idea, and a word is a sign that refers to the idea
[Locke]
|
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23648
|
First we notice and name attributes ('abstracting'); then we notice that subjects share them ('generalising')
[Reid]
|
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6925
|
The new philosophy thinks of the concrete in a concrete (not a abstract) manner
[Feuerbach]
|
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9078
|
The study of the nature of Abstract Ideas does not belong to logic, but to a different science
[Mill]
|
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9080
|
General conceptions are a necessary preliminary to Induction
[Mill]
|
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9846
|
Defining 'direction' by parallelism doesn't tell you whether direction is a line
[Dummett on Frege]
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9030
|
Abstractions can be interpreted dispositionally, as the ability to recognise or imagine an item
[Price,HH]
|
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9029
|
If ideas have to be images, then abstract ideas become a paradoxical problem
[Price,HH]
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11102
|
Apply '-ness' or 'class of' to abstract general terms, to get second-level abstract singular terms
[Quine]
|
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17664
|
Each subject has an appropriate level of abstraction
[Armstrong]
|
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9873
|
Abstract terms are acceptable as long as we know how they function linguistically
[Dummett]
|
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10839
|
You can't infer a dog's abstract concepts from its behaviour
[Dummett]
|
|
9086
|
The idea of abstract objects is not ontological; it comes from the epistemological idea of abstraction
[Plantinga]
|
|
9087
|
Theists may see abstract objects as really divine thoughts
[Plantinga]
|
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8901
|
Abstraction is usually explained either by example, or conflation, or abstraction, or negatively
[Lewis]
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9144
|
Fine's 'procedural postulationism' uses creative definitions, but avoids abstract ontology
[Fine,K, by Cook/Ebert]
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8299
|
Abstractions are non-spatial, or dependent, or derived from concepts
[Lowe]
|
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9609
|
The older sense of 'abstract' is where 'redness' or 'group' is abstracted from particulars
[Brown,JR]
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9611
|
'Abstract' nowadays means outside space and time, not concrete, not physical
[Brown,JR]
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