Full Idea
Though it may sound odd to say so, intelligent behaviour has something abstract about it no less than intelligent cognition; and indeed at the animal level it is unrealistic to separate the two.
Gist of Idea
Intelligent behaviour, even in animals, has something abstract about it
Source
H.H. Price (Thinking and Experience [1953], Ch.IV)
Book Reference
Price,H.H.: 'Thinking and Experience' [Hutchinson 1953], p.98
A Reaction
This elusive thought strikes me as being a key one for understanding human existence. To think is to abstract. Brains are abstraction machines. Resemblance and recognition require abstaction.