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Single Idea 8299
[filed under theme 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 1. Abstract Thought
]
Full Idea
There are three conceptions of abstractness: 1) non-spatial entities, the opposite of 'concrete' (e.g. numbers and universals); 2) an entity logically incapable of a separate existence (e.g. an apple's colour); 3) Fregean abstractions from concepts.
Gist of Idea
Abstractions are non-spatial, or dependent, or derived from concepts
Source
E.J. Lowe (The Possibility of Metaphysics [1998], 10.1)
Book Ref
Lowe,E.J.: 'The Possibility of Metaphysics' [OUP 2001], p.211
A Reaction
[Lowe p.218 explains the third one] Lowe rejects the third one, and it is a moot point whether the second one could actually be classed as an entity (do they have identity-conditions?), so the big issue is the first one.
The
22 ideas
with the same theme
[general concepts not about concrete objects]:
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]
|
10509
|
Understanding consists entirely of grasping abstracted species
[Aquinas]
|
5827
|
A species of thing is an abstract idea, and a word is a sign that refers to the idea
[Locke]
|
23648
|
First we notice and name attributes ('abstracting'); then we notice that subjects share them ('generalising')
[Reid]
|
6925
|
The new philosophy thinks of the concrete in a concrete (not a abstract) manner
[Feuerbach]
|
9078
|
The study of the nature of Abstract Ideas does not belong to logic, but to a different science
[Mill]
|
9080
|
General conceptions are a necessary preliminary to Induction
[Mill]
|
9846
|
Defining 'direction' by parallelism doesn't tell you whether direction is a line
[Dummett on Frege]
|
9030
|
Abstractions can be interpreted dispositionally, as the ability to recognise or imagine an item
[Price,HH]
|
9029
|
If ideas have to be images, then abstract ideas become a paradoxical problem
[Price,HH]
|
11102
|
Apply '-ness' or 'class of' to abstract general terms, to get second-level abstract singular terms
[Quine]
|
17664
|
Each subject has an appropriate level of abstraction
[Armstrong]
|
9873
|
Abstract terms are acceptable as long as we know how they function linguistically
[Dummett]
|
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]
|
8901
|
Abstraction is usually explained either by example, or conflation, or abstraction, or negatively
[Lewis]
|
9144
|
Fine's 'procedural postulationism' uses creative definitions, but avoids abstract ontology
[Fine,K, by Cook/Ebert]
|
8299
|
Abstractions are non-spatial, or dependent, or derived from concepts
[Lowe]
|
9609
|
The older sense of 'abstract' is where 'redness' or 'group' is abstracted from particulars
[Brown,JR]
|
9611
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'Abstract' nowadays means outside space and time, not concrete, not physical
[Brown,JR]
|