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Full Idea
Abstractions cannot account for those general terms whose instances do not have any set of features in common. The word 'game' is not ambiguous, but not all games have one thing in common; they are united by looser 'family resemblance'.
Gist of Idea
Abstraction cannot produce the concept of a 'game', as there is no one common feature
Source
Jonathan Barnes (Commentary on 'Posterior Analytics [1993], n to 97b7)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Barnes,Jonathan [OUP 1993], p.249
A Reaction
(This point comes from Wittgenstein, Idea 4141) English-speakers can't agree on borderline cases (avoiding cracks in pavements). Life is just a game. The objection would be refuted by discussion of higher-level abstractions to make connections.
Related Idea
Idea 4141 Various games have a 'family resemblance', as their similarities overlap and criss-cross [Wittgenstein]
| 9073 | Abstraction from an ambiguous concept like 'mole' will define them as the same [Barnes,J] |
| 9074 | Abstraction cannot produce the concept of a 'game', as there is no one common feature [Barnes,J] |
| 9072 | Defining concepts by abstractions will collect together far too many attributes from entities [Barnes,J] |