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Single Idea 8770
[filed under theme 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 3. Abstracta by Ignoring
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Full Idea
I call 'abstractionism' the doctrine that a concept is acquired by a process of singling out in attention some one feature given in direct experience - abstracting it - and ignoring the other features simultaneously given - abstracting from them.
Gist of Idea
'Abstractionism' is acquiring a concept by picking out one experience amongst a group
Source
Peter Geach (Mental Acts: their content and their objects [1957], §6)
Book Ref
Geach,Peter: 'Mental Acts: Their content and their objects' [RKP 1971], p.18
A Reaction
Locke seems to be the best known ancestor of this view, and Geach launches a vigorous attack against it. However, contemporary philosophers still refer to the process, and I think Geach should be crushed and this theory revived.
The
16 ideas
from 'Mental Acts: their content and their objects'
2567
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You can't define real mental states in terms of behaviour that never happens
[Geach]
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2568
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Beliefs aren't tied to particular behaviours
[Geach]
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8769
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If someone has aphasia but can still play chess, they clearly have concepts
[Geach]
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8770
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'Abstractionism' is acquiring a concept by picking out one experience amongst a group
[Geach]
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8771
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'Or' and 'not' are not to be found in the sensible world, or even in the world of inner experience
[Geach]
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8772
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We can't acquire number-concepts by extracting the number from the things being counted
[Geach]
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8773
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Abstractionists can't explain counting, because it must precede experience of objects
[Geach]
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8774
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The numbers don't exist in nature, so they cannot have been abstracted from there into our languages
[Geach]
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8775
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A big flea is a small animal, so 'big' and 'small' cannot be acquired by abstraction
[Geach]
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8776
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We cannot learn relations by abstraction, because their converse must be learned too
[Geach]
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8778
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Blind people can use colour words like 'red' perfectly intelligently
[Geach]
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8777
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If 'black' and 'cat' can be used in the absence of such objects, how can such usage be abstracted?
[Geach]
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8779
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We can form two different abstract concepts that apply to a single unified experience
[Geach]
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8780
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Attributes are functions, not objects; this distinguishes 'square of 2' from 'double of 2'
[Geach]
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8781
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The mind does not lift concepts from experience; it creates them, and then applies them
[Geach]
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11910
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Being 'the same' is meaningless, unless we specify 'the same X'
[Geach]
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