more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

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 Two red cloths are separate instances of redness, because you can dye one of them blue [Campbell,K]
8514 Red could only recur in a variety of objects if it was many, which makes them particulars [Campbell,K]
8512 Abstractions come before the mind by concentrating on a part of what is presented [Campbell,K]
8515 Tropes are basic particulars, so concrete particulars are collections of co-located tropes [Campbell,K]
8518 Events are trope-sequences, in which tropes replace one another [Campbell,K]
8517 Causal conditions are particular abstract instances of properties, which makes them tropes [Campbell,K]
8516 Davidson can't explain causation entirely by events, because conditions are also involved [Campbell,K]
8519 Bundles must be unique, so the Identity of Indiscernibles is a necessity - which it isn't! [Campbell,K]
4033 Two pure spheres in non-absolute space are identical but indiscernible [Campbell,K]
8522 Tropes solve the Companionship Difficulty, since the resemblance is only between abstract particulars [Campbell,K]
8523 Tropes solve the Imperfect Community problem, as they can only resemble in one respect [Campbell,K]
8521 Nominalism has the problem that without humans nothing would resemble anything else [Campbell,K]
8524 Trope theory makes space central to reality, as tropes must have a shape and size [Campbell,K]
8525 Relations need terms, so they must be second-order entities based on first-order tropes [Campbell,K]