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Single Idea 15868

[from 'Laws of Nature' by Rom Harré, in 15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 6. Idealisation ]

Full Idea

An 'idealisation' preserves all the properties of the source but it possesses these properties in some ideal or perfect form. ...An 'abstraction', on the other hand, lacks certain features of its source.

Gist of Idea

Idealisation idealises all of a thing's properties, but abstraction leaves some of them out

Source

Rom Harré (Laws of Nature [1993], 1)

Book Reference

Harré,Rom: 'Laws of Nature' [Duckworth 1993], p.35


A Reaction

Yet another example in contemporary philosophy of a clear understanding of the sort of abstraction which Geach and others have poured scorn on.