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18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 1. Abstract Thought

[general concepts not about concrete objects]

22 ideas
The origin of geometry started in sensation, then moved to calculation, and then to reason [Proclus]
We abstract forms from appearances, and acquire knowledge of immaterial things [Aquinas]
Understanding consists entirely of grasping abstracted species [Aquinas]
A species of thing is an abstract idea, and a word is a sign that refers to the idea [Locke]
First we notice and name attributes ('abstracting'); then we notice that subjects share them ('generalising') [Reid]
The new philosophy thinks of the concrete in a concrete (not a abstract) manner [Feuerbach]
The study of the nature of Abstract Ideas does not belong to logic, but to a different science [Mill]
General conceptions are a necessary preliminary to Induction [Mill]
Defining 'direction' by parallelism doesn't tell you whether direction is a line [Dummett on Frege]
Abstractions can be interpreted dispositionally, as the ability to recognise or imagine an item [Price,HH]
If ideas have to be images, then abstract ideas become a paradoxical problem [Price,HH]
Apply '-ness' or 'class of' to abstract general terms, to get second-level abstract singular terms [Quine]
Each subject has an appropriate level of abstraction [Armstrong]
Abstract terms are acceptable as long as we know how they function linguistically [Dummett]
You can't infer a dog's abstract concepts from its behaviour [Dummett]
The idea of abstract objects is not ontological; it comes from the epistemological idea of abstraction [Plantinga]
Theists may see abstract objects as really divine thoughts [Plantinga]
Abstraction is usually explained either by example, or conflation, or abstraction, or negatively [Lewis]
Fine's 'procedural postulationism' uses creative definitions, but avoids abstract ontology [Fine,K, by Cook/Ebert]
Abstractions are non-spatial, or dependent, or derived from concepts [Lowe]
The older sense of 'abstract' is where 'redness' or 'group' is abstracted from particulars [Brown,JR]
'Abstract' nowadays means outside space and time, not concrete, not physical [Brown,JR]