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Single Idea 8512
[filed under theme 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 3. Abstracta by Ignoring
]
Full Idea
An item is abstract if it is got before the mind by an act of abstraction, that is, by concentrating attention on some, but not all, of what is presented.
Gist of Idea
Abstractions come before the mind by concentrating on a part of what is presented
Source
Keith Campbell (The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars [1981], §1)
Book Ref
'Properties', ed/tr. Mellor,D.H. /Oliver,A [OUP 1997], p.126
A Reaction
I think this point is incredibly important. Pure Fregean semantics tries to leave out the psychological component, and yet all the problems in semantics concern various sorts of abstraction. Imagination is the focus of the whole operation.
The
14 ideas
from 'The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars'
8513
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Two red cloths are separate instances of redness, because you can dye one of them blue
[Campbell,K]
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8514
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Red could only recur in a variety of objects if it was many, which makes them particulars
[Campbell,K]
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8512
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Abstractions come before the mind by concentrating on a part of what is presented
[Campbell,K]
|
8515
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Tropes are basic particulars, so concrete particulars are collections of co-located tropes
[Campbell,K]
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8518
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Events are trope-sequences, in which tropes replace one another
[Campbell,K]
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8517
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Causal conditions are particular abstract instances of properties, which makes them tropes
[Campbell,K]
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8516
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Davidson can't explain causation entirely by events, because conditions are also involved
[Campbell,K]
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8519
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Bundles must be unique, so the Identity of Indiscernibles is a necessity - which it isn't!
[Campbell,K]
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4033
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Two pure spheres in non-absolute space are identical but indiscernible
[Campbell,K]
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8522
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Tropes solve the Companionship Difficulty, since the resemblance is only between abstract particulars
[Campbell,K]
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8523
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Tropes solve the Imperfect Community problem, as they can only resemble in one respect
[Campbell,K]
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8521
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Nominalism has the problem that without humans nothing would resemble anything else
[Campbell,K]
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8524
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Trope theory makes space central to reality, as tropes must have a shape and size
[Campbell,K]
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8525
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Relations need terms, so they must be second-order entities based on first-order tropes
[Campbell,K]
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