Combining Texts

Ideas for '', 'A Subject with No Object' and 'Finkish dispositions'

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4 ideas

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 7. Abstract/Concrete / a. Abstract/concrete
9918 Abstract/concrete is a distinction of kind, not degree [Burgess/Rosen]
     Full Idea: The distinction of abstract and concrete is one of kind and not degree.
     From: JP Burgess / G Rosen (A Subject with No Object [1997], I.A.1.a)
     A reaction: I think I must agree with this. If there is a borderline, it would be in particulars that seem to have an abstract aspect to them. A horse involves the abstraction of being a horse, and it involves be one horse.
9929 Much of what science says about concrete entities is 'abstraction-laden' [Burgess/Rosen]
     Full Idea: Much of what science says about concrete entities is 'abstraction-laden'.
     From: JP Burgess / G Rosen (A Subject with No Object [1997], III.A.1.d)
     A reaction: Not just science. In ordinary conversation we continually refer to particulars using so-called 'universal' predicates and object-terms, which are presumably abstractions. 'I've just seen an elephant'.
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 7. Abstract/Concrete / b. Levels of abstraction
9927 Mathematics has ascended to higher and higher levels of abstraction [Burgess/Rosen]
     Full Idea: In mathematics, since the beginning of the nineteenth century, there has been an ascent to higher and higher levels of abstraction.
     From: JP Burgess / G Rosen (A Subject with No Object [1997], II.C.1.b)
     A reaction: I am interested in clarifying what this means, which might involve the common sense and psychological view of the matter, as well as some sort of formal definition in terms of equivalence (or whatever).
9930 Abstraction is on a scale, of sets, to attributes, to type-formulas, to token-formulas [Burgess/Rosen]
     Full Idea: There is a scale of abstractness that leads downwards from sets through attributes to formulas as abstract types and on to formulas as abstract tokens.
     From: JP Burgess / G Rosen (A Subject with No Object [1997], III.B.2.c)
     A reaction: Presumably the 'abstract tokens' at the bottom must have some interpretation, to support the system. Presumably one can keep going upwards, through sets of sets of sets.