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{{Short description|Process of generalisation}}
{{about|the concept of abstraction in general|specific types of abstraction and other uses of the term|Abstraction (disambiguation)|other uses|Abstract (disambiguation)}}

'''Abstraction''' is a process where general [[rule of inference|rules]] and [[concept|concepts]] are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal ([[reality|real]] or [[Abstract and concrete|concrete]]) signifiers, [[first principle]]s, or other methods.

"An abstraction" is the outcome of this process — a concept that acts as a common noun for all subordinate concepts and connects any related concepts as a ''group'', ''field'', or ''category''.<ref name=Langer>[[Suzanne K. Langer]] (1953), ''Feeling and Form: a theory of art developed from Philosophy in a New Key'' p. 90: "[[Sculpture|Sculptural form]] is a powerful abstraction from actual objects and the three-dimensional space which we construe ... through [[sensory system|touch and sight]]."</ref>

Conceptual abstractions may be made by filtering the [[information]] content of a [[concept]] or an observable [[phenomenon]], selecting only those aspects which are relevant for a particular purpose. For example, abstracting a leather soccer ball to the more general idea of a [[ball]] selects only the information on general ball attributes and behavior, excluding but not eliminating the other phenomenal and cognitive characteristics of that particular ball.<ref name=Langer/> In a [[type–token distinction]], a type (e.g., a 'ball') is more abstract than its tokens (e.g., 'that leather soccer ball').

Abstraction in its secondary use is a [[#Material process|material process]],<ref name="ReferenceA">Alfred Sohn-Rethel, ''Intellectual and manual labour: A critique of epistemology'', Humanities Press, 1977</ref> discussed in the [[#Themes|themes below]].

==Origins==
{{Main|Behavioral modernity}}
Thinking in abstractions is considered by [[anthropologist]]s, [[archaeologist]]s, and [[sociologist]]s to be one of the key traits in [[modern human behaviour]], which is believed<ref>{{Cite journal |last=CARRIER |first=JAMES G. |date=2007-01-19 |title=Social aspects of abstraction |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2001.tb00151.x |journal=Social Anthropology |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=243–256 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8676.2001.tb00151.x |issn=0964-0282}}</ref> to have developed between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. Its development is likely to have been closely connected with the development of human [[language]], which (whether spoken or written) appears to both involve and facilitate abstract thinking.

===History===
''Abstraction'' involves [[Inductive reasoning|induction]] of ideas or the synthesis of particular facts into one general theory about something. It is the opposite of ''specification'', which is the analysis or breaking-down of a general idea or abstraction into concrete facts. Abstraction can be illustrated by [[Francis Bacon]]'s ''[[Novum Organum]]'' (1620), a book of modern scientific philosophy written in the late [[Jacobean era]]<ref name="Hesse">Hesse, M. B. (1964), "Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science", in A Critical History of Western Philosophy, ed. D. J. O'Connor, New York, pp. 141–52.</ref> of England to encourage modern thinkers to collect specific facts before making any generalizations.

Bacon used and promoted [[inductive reasoning|induction]] as an abstraction tool; it complemented but was distinct from the ancient [[deductive]]-thinking approach that had dominated the intellectual world since the times of Greek philosophers like [[Thales]], [[Anaximander]], and [[Aristotle]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Klein|first=Jürgen|title=Francis Bacon|date=2016|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/francis-bacon/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Winter 2016|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> Thales ({{circa|624}}–546 BCE) believed that everything in the universe comes from one main substance, water. He deduced or specified from a general idea, "everything is water," to the specific forms of water such as ice, snow, fog, and rivers.

Modern scientists used the approach of abstraction (going from particular facts collected into one general idea). [[Isaac Newton|Newton]] (1642–1727) derived the motion of the planets from [[Copernicus]]' (1473–1543) simplification, that the Sun is the center of the [[Solar System]]; [[Kepler]] (1571–1630) compressed thousands of measurements into one expression to finally conclude that Mars moves in an elliptical orbit about the Sun; [[Galileo]] (1564–1642) repeated one hundred specific experiments into the law of falling bodies.

==Themes==

===Compression===
<!--Is this section common knowledge or original research? -->
An abstraction can be seen as a [[data compression|compression]] process,<ref>{{Citation |first=Gregory |last=Chaitin |author-link=Gregory Chaitin | url=http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~chaitin/sciamer3.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509165230/http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~chaitin/sciamer3.pdf | archive-date=2015-05-09 |title=The Limits Of Reason |journal=Scientific American |volume=294 |issue=3 |pages=74–81 |year=2006|pmid=16502614 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0306-74 |bibcode=2006SciAm.294c..74C }}</ref> mapping multiple different pieces of [[wikt:constituent|constituent]] data to a single piece of abstract data;<ref>[[Murray Gell-Mann]] (1995) "[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cplx.6130010105/pdf What is complexity? Remarks on simplicity and complexity by the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Quark and the Jaguar]" ''Complexity'' states the 'algorithmic information complexity' (AIC) of some string of bits is the shortest length computer program which can print out that string of bits.</ref> based on similarities in the constituent data, for example, many different physical cats map to the abstraction "CAT". This conceptual scheme emphasizes the inherent equality of both constituent and abstract data, thus avoiding problems arising from the distinction between "abstract" and "[[concrete (philosophy)|concrete]]". In this sense the process of abstraction entails the identification of similarities between objects, and the process of associating these objects with an abstraction (which is [[#Physicality|itself an object]]).
:For example, ''[[#Simplification and ordering|picture 1 below]]'' illustrates the concrete relationship "Cat sits on Mat".
Chains of abstractions can be [[construe]]d,<ref name = Ross>Ross, L. (1987). The Problem of Construal in Social Inference and Social Psychology. In N. Grunberg, R.E. Nisbett, J. Singer (eds), ''A Distinctive Approach to psychological research: the influence of Stanley Schacter''. Hillsdale, NJ: Earlbaum.</ref> moving from neural impulses arising from sensory [[perception]] to basic abstractions such as color or [[shape]], to experiential abstractions such as a specific cat, to [[semantic]] abstractions such as the "idea" of a CAT, to classes of objects such as "mammals" and even categories such as "[[#Physicality|object]]" as opposed to "action".
:For example, ''[[#Simplification and ordering|graph 1 below]]'' expresses the abstraction "agent sits on location". This conceptual scheme entails no specific [[hierarchical]] [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]] (such as the one mentioned involving cats and mammals), only a progressive [[#Simplification and ordering|exclusion of detail]].

===Instantiation===

Non-existent things in any particular place and time are often seen as abstract. By contrast, instances, or members, of such an abstract thing might exist in many different places and times.

Those abstract things are then said to be ''multiply instantiated'', in the sense of ''picture 1'', ''picture 2'', etc., shown [[#Simplification and ordering|below]]. It is not sufficient, however, to define ''abstract'' ideas as those that can be instantiated and to define ''abstraction'' as the movement in the opposite direction to instantiation. Doing so would make the concepts "cat" and "telephone" abstract ideas since despite their varying appearances, a particular cat or a particular telephone is an instance of the concept "cat" or the concept "telephone". Although the concepts "cat" and "telephone" are ''abstractions'', they are not ''abstract'' in the sense of the objects in ''graph 1'' [[#Simplification and ordering|below]]. We might look at other graphs, in a progression from ''cat'' to ''mammal'' to ''animal'', and see that ''animal'' is more abstract than ''mammal''; but on the other hand ''mammal'' is a harder idea to express, certainly in relation to ''[[marsupial]]'' or ''[[monotreme]]''.

Perhaps confusingly, some [[philosophy|philosophies]] refer to ''[[trope (philosophy)|tropes]]'' (instances of properties) as ''[[abstract particular]]s''—e.g., the particular [[red]]ness of a particular [[apple]] is an ''abstract particular''. This is similar to [[qualia]] and [[sumbebekos]].

===Material process===
{{further|Power projection|Display behavior}}
Still retaining the primary meaning of '{{lang|la|abstrere}}' or 'to draw away from', the abstraction of money, for example, works by drawing away from the particular value of things allowing completely incommensurate objects to be compared (see the section on 'Physicality' below). [[Karl Marx]]'s writing on the [[commodity]] abstraction recognizes a parallel process.

The [[state (polity)]] as both concept and material practice exemplifies the two sides of this process of abstraction. Conceptually, 'the current concept of the state is an abstraction from the much more concrete early-modern use as the standing or status of the prince, his visible estates'. At the same time, materially, the 'practice of statehood is now constitutively and materially more abstract than at the time when princes ruled as the embodiment of extended power'.<ref>{{Cite book | last= James | first= Paul |author-link= Paul James (academic) | title= Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In – Volume 2 of Towards a Theory of Abstract Community |url= https://www.academia.edu/1642214 | year= 2006 | publisher= Sage Publications | location= London }}, pp. 318–19.</ref>
===Ontological status===
The way that physical objects, like rocks and trees, have [[category of being|being]] differs from the way that properties of abstract concepts or relations have being, for example the way the [[concrete (philosophy)|concrete]], [[particular]], [[individual]]s pictured in ''[[#Simplification and ordering|picture 1]]'' exist differs from the way the concepts illustrated in ''[[#Simplification and ordering|graph 1]]'' exist. That difference accounts for the [[ontological]] usefulness of the word "abstract". The word applies to properties and relations to mark the fact that, if they exist, they do not exist in space or time, but that instances of them can exist, potentially in many different places and times.

===Physicality===
{{Further|History of accounting#Ancient history}}
A physical object (a possible referent of a concept or word) is considered ''concrete'' (not abstract) if it is a ''particular individual'' that occupies a particular place and time. However, in the secondary sense of the term 'abstraction', this physical object can carry materially abstracting processes. For example, record-keeping aids throughout the [[Fertile Crescent]] included calculi (clay spheres, cones, etc.) which represented counts of items, probably livestock or grains, sealed in containers. According to {{harvnb|Schmandt-Besserat|1981}}, these clay containers contained tokens, the total of which were the count of objects being transferred. The containers thus served as something of a [[bill of lading]] or an accounts book. In order to avoid breaking open the containers for the count, marks were placed on the outside of the containers. These physical marks, in other words, acted as material abstractions of a materially abstract process of accounting, using conceptual abstractions (numbers) to communicate its meaning.<ref>Eventually ([http://www.laits.utexas.edu/ghazal/Chap1/dsb/chapter1.html Schmandt-Besserat estimates it took 4000 years] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130084757/http://www.laits.utexas.edu/ghazal/Chap1/dsb/chapter1.html |date=January 30, 2012 }}) the marks on the outside of the containers were all that were needed to convey the count. The clay containers evolved into clay tablets with marks for the count.
</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Eleanor|last=Robson|author-link=Eleanor Robson|year=2008|title=Mathematics in Ancient Iraq|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-09182-2}}. p. 5: these calculi were in use in Iraq for primitive accounting systems as early as 3200–3000 BCE, with commodity-specific counting representation systems. Balanced accounting was in use by 3000–2350 BCE, and a [[sexagesimal number system]] was in use 2350–2000 BCE.</ref>

Abstract things are sometimes defined as those things that do not exist in [[reality]] or exist only as sensory experiences, like the color [[red]]. That definition, however, suffers from the difficulty of deciding which things are real (i.e. which things exist in reality). For example, it is difficult to agree to whether concepts like ''God'', ''the number three'', and ''goodness'' are real, abstract, or both.

An approach to resolving such difficulty is to use ''[[predicate (grammar)|predicates]]'' as a general term for whether things are variously real, abstract, concrete, or of a particular property (e.g., ''good''). Questions about the properties of things are then [[proposition]]s about predicates, which propositions remain to be evaluated by the investigator. In the ''graph 1'' [[#Simplification and ordering|below]], the graphical relationships like the arrows joining boxes and ellipses might denote predicates.

===Referencing and referring===
Abstractions sometimes have ambiguous [[referent]]s. For example, "[[happiness]]" can mean experiencing various positive emotions, but can also refer to [[life satisfaction]] and [[subjective well-being]]. Likewise, "[[architecture]]" refers not only to the design of safe, functional buildings, but also to elements of creation and [[innovation]] which aim at elegant solutions to [[construction]] problems, to the use of space, and to the attempt to evoke an [[emotion|emotional response]] in the builders, owners, viewers and users of the building.<!--See discussion pages 3 to 12 in Eugene Raskin, ''Architecturally Speaking, 2nd edition'', a Delta book, Dell (1966), trade paperback, 129 pages-->

===Simplification and ordering===
Abstraction uses a [[strategy]] of simplification, wherein formerly concrete details are left ambiguous, vague, or undefined; thus effective [[communication]] about things in the abstract requires an [[intuition (knowledge)|intuitive]] or common experience between the communicator and the communication recipient. This is true for all verbal/abstract communication.
[[File:Conceptual graph for A Cat sitting on the Mat Hi-res.png|alt=|thumb|[[Conceptual graph]] for A Cat sitting on the Mat ''(graph 1)'']]
[[File:JerryFelix.JPG|thumb|Cat on Mat ''(picture 1)'']]
For example, many different things can be [[red]]. Likewise, many things sit on surfaces (as in ''picture 1'', to the right). The property of ''[[red]]ness'' and the [[Relation of Ideas|relation]] ''[[sitting|sitting-on]]'' are therefore abstractions of those objects. Specifically, the conceptual diagram ''graph 1'' identifies only three boxes, two ellipses, and four arrows (and their five labels), whereas the ''picture 1'' shows much more pictorial detail, with the scores of implied relationships as implicit in the picture rather than with the nine explicit details in the graph.

''Graph 1'' details some explicit relationships between the objects of the diagram. For example, the arrow between the ''agent'' and ''CAT:Elsie'' depicts an example of an ''[[is-a]]'' relationship, as does the arrow between the ''location'' and the ''MAT''. The arrows between the [[gerund]]/[[present participle]] ''SITTING'' and the [[noun]]s ''agent'' and ''location'' express the [[diagram]]'s basic relationship; ''"agent is SITTING on location"''; ''Elsie'' is an instance of ''CAT''.<ref>[[John F. Sowa|Sowa, John F.]] (1984). ''Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine''. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. {{ISBN|978-0-201-14472-7}}.</ref>

Although the description ''sitting-on'' (graph 1) is more abstract than the graphic image of a cat sitting on a mat (picture 1), the delineation of abstract things from concrete things is somewhat ambiguous; this ambiguity or vagueness is characteristic of abstraction. Thus something as simple as a newspaper might be specified to six levels, as in [[Douglas Hofstadter]]'s illustration of that ambiguity, with a progression from abstract to concrete in ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' (1979):<ref>{{cite book|author-link = Douglas Hofstadter|first = Douglas|last = Hofstadter|date = 1979|title = [[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]|publisher= Basic Books|isbn = 978-0-465-02656-2}}</ref>
{{blockquote|
:(1) a publication
::(2) a newspaper
:::(3) ''The San Francisco Chronicle''
::::(4) the May 18 edition of ''The San Francisco Chronicle''
:::::(5) my copy of the May 18 edition of ''The San Francisco Chronicle''
::::::(6) my copy of the May 18 edition of ''The San Francisco Chronicle'' as it was when I first picked it up (as contrasted with my copy as it was a few days later: in my fireplace, burning)
}}

An abstraction can thus encapsulate each of these levels of detail with no [[loss of generality]]. But perhaps a detective or philosopher/scientist/engineer might seek to learn about something, at progressively deeper levels of detail, to solve a crime or a puzzle.

===Thought processes===
In [[philosophy|philosophical terminology]], ''abstraction'' is the [[thinking|thought process]] wherein [[idea]]s are distanced from [[object (philosophy)|objects]]. But an idea can be [[symbol]]ized.<ref>"A symbol is any device whereby we are enabled to make an abstraction." -- p.xi and chapter 20 of [[Suzanne K. Langer]] (1953), ''Feeling and Form: a theory of art developed from '''Philosophy in a New Key''''': New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 431 pages, index.</ref>

==As used in different disciplines==

===In art===
{{Main|Abstraction (art)}}
Typically, ''abstraction'' is used in the arts as a [[synonym]] for [[abstract art]] in general. Strictly speaking, it refers to art unconcerned with the literal depiction of things from the visible world—it can, however, refer to an object or image which has been distilled from the real world, or indeed, another work of art.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9003405/abstract-art|title=abstract art|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=March 2024 }}</ref> Artwork that reshapes the natural world for expressive purposes is called abstract; that which derives from, but does not imitate a recognizable subject is called nonobjective abstraction. In the 20th century the trend toward abstraction coincided with advances in science, technology, and changes in urban life, eventually reflecting an interest in psychoanalytic theory.<ref>[[Catherine de Zegher]] and Hendel Teicher (eds.), ''3 X Abstraction''. NY/New Haven: The Drawing Center/Yale University Press. 2005. {{ISBN|0-300-10826-5}}</ref> Later still, abstraction was manifest in more purely formal terms, such as color, freedom from objective context, and a reduction of form to basic geometric designs.<ref>[http://www.nga.gov/education/american/abstract.shtm National Gallery of Art: Abstraction.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110509153115/http://www.nga.gov/education/american/abstract.shtm |date=May 9, 2011 }}</ref>

===In computer science===
{{Main|Abstraction (software engineering)}}
[[Computer scientists]] use abstraction to make models that can be used and re-used without having to re-write all the program code for each new application on every different type of computer. They [[communication|communicate]] their solutions with the computer by writing [[source code]] in some particular [[computer language]] which can be translated into [[machine code]] for different types of computers to execute. Abstraction allows program designers to separate a framework (categorical concepts related to computing problems) from specific instances which implement details. This means that the program code can be written so that code does not have to depend on the specific details of supporting applications, [[operating system]] software, or hardware, but on a categorical concept of the solution. A solution to the problem can then be integrated into the system framework with minimal additional work. This allows programmers to take advantage of another programmer's work, while requiring only an abstract understanding of the implementation of another's work, apart from the problem that it solves.

=== In general semantics ===
Abstractions and levels of abstraction play an important role in the theory of [[general semantics]] originated by [[Alfred Korzybski]]. [[Anatol Rapoport]] wrote "Abstracting is a mechanism by which an infinite variety of experiences can be mapped on short noises (words)."<ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Rapoport
| first1 = Anatol
| author-link1 = Anatol Rapoport
| title = Science and the Goals of Man
| location = New York
| publisher = Harper & Bros.
| date = 1950
| page = 68
}}
quoted in:
{{cite book
| last1 = Gorman
| first1 = Margaret
| title = General Semantics and Contemporary Thomism
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=b9-NRHuJo0MC
| series = Bison
| volume = 146
| location = Lincoln
| publisher = University of Nebraska Press
| date = 1962
| page = 43
| isbn = 9780803250758
| access-date = 2018-05-26
| quote = Abstracting is a mechanism by which an infinite variety of experiences can be mapped on short noises (words).
}}
</ref>

=== In history ===
[[Francis Fukuyama]] defines [[history]] as "a deliberate attempt of abstraction in which we separate out important from unimportant events".<ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Fukuyama
| first1 = Francis
| author-link1 = Francis Fukuyama
| year = 1992
| title = The End of History and the Last Man
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4HQjTGWNfhwC
| location = New York
| publisher = Simon and Schuster
| publication-date = 2006
| page = 138
| isbn = 9780743284554
| access-date = 2018-08-04
| quote = [...] 'history' is not a given, not merely a catalog of everything that has happened in the past, but a deliberate attempt of abstraction in which we separate out important from unimportant events.
}}
</ref>

===In linguistics===
{{Main|Abstraction (linguistics)}}
Researchers in [[linguistics]] frequently apply abstraction so as to allow an analysis of the phenomena of language at the desired level of detail. A commonly used abstraction, the ''[[phoneme]]'', abstracts [[speech sound]]s in such a way as to neglect details that cannot serve to differentiate meaning. Other analogous kinds of abstractions (sometimes called "[[emic unit]]s") considered by linguists include [[morpheme]]s, [[grapheme]]s, and [[lexeme]]s.

Abstraction also arises in the relation between [[syntax]], [[semantics]], and [[pragmatics]]. Pragmatics involves considerations that make reference to the user of the language; semantics considers expressions and what they denote (the [[designata]]) abstracted from the language user; and syntax considers only the expressions themselves, abstracted from the designata.

===In mathematics===
{{Main|Abstraction (mathematics)}}
Abstraction in [[mathematics]] is the process of extracting the underlying structures, patterns or properties of a mathematical concept or object, removing any dependence on real-world objects with which it might originally have been connected, and generalizing it so that it has wider applications or matching among other abstract descriptions of equivalent phenomena.

The advantages of abstraction in mathematics are:
* It reveals deep connections between different areas of mathematics.
* Known results in one area can suggest [[conjecture]]s in another related area.
* Techniques and methods from one area can be applied to [[mathematical proof|prove]] results in other related area.
*Patterns from one mathematical object can be generalized to other similar objects in the same class.

The main disadvantage of abstraction is that highly abstract concepts are more difficult to learn, and might require a degree of [[mathematical maturity]] and experience before they can be assimilated.

===In music===
In music, the term ''abstraction'' can be used to describe improvisatory approaches to interpretation, and may sometimes indicate abandonment of [[tonality]]. [[Atonality|Atonal]] music has no key signature, and is characterized by the exploration of internal numeric relationships.<ref>[http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/ABSTRACT.HTM Washington State University: Glossary of Abstraction.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911121123/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/ABSTRACT.HTM |date=September 11, 2007 }}</ref>

===In neurology===
{{Further|Intelligence|Mental rotation|Mental operations}}
A recent meta-analysis suggests that the verbal system has a greater engagement with abstract concepts when the perceptual system is more engaged in processing concrete concepts. This is because abstract concepts elicit greater brain activity in the inferior frontal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus compared to concrete concepts which elicit greater activity in the posterior cingulate, precuneus, fusiform gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Wang | first1 = Jing | last2 = Conder | first2 = Julie A. | last3 = Blitzer | first3 = David N. | last4 = Shinkareva | first4 = Svetlana V. | s2cid = 22661328 | year = 2010 | title = Neural Representation of Abstract and Concrete Concepts: A Meta-Analysis of Neuroimaging Studies | journal = Human Brain Mapping | volume = 31| issue = 10| pages = 1459–1468| doi = 10.1002/hbm.20950 | pmid = 20108224 | pmc = 6870700 }}</ref> Other research into the [[human brain]] suggests that the left and right hemispheres differ in their handling of abstraction. For example, one meta-analysis reviewing human brain lesions has shown a left hemisphere bias during tool usage.<ref>James W. Lewis "Cortical Networks Related to Human Use of Tools" '''12''' (3): 211–231 ''The Neuroscientist'' (June 1, 2006).</ref>

===In philosophy===
{{see also|Abstract object theory}}
Abstraction in [[philosophy]] is the process (or, to some, the alleged process) in [[concept]] formation of recognizing some set of common features in [[individual]]s, and on that basis forming a concept of that feature. The notion of abstraction is important to understanding some philosophical controversies surrounding [[empiricism]] and the [[problem of universals]]. It has also recently become popular in formal logic under [[predicate abstraction]]. Another philosophical tool for the discussion of abstraction is thought space.

[[John Locke]] defined abstraction in ''[[An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]]'':

'So words are used to stand as outward marks of our internal ideas, which are taken from particular things; but if every particular idea that we take in had its own special name, there would be no end to names. To prevent this, the mind makes particular ideas received from particular things become general; which it does by considering them as they are in the mind—mental appearances—separate from all other existences, and from the circumstances of real existence, such as time, place, and so on. This procedure is called abstraction. In it, an idea taken from a particular thing becomes a general representative of all of the same kind, and its name becomes a general name that is applicable to any existing thing that fits that abstract idea.' (2.11.9)

===In psychology===
[[Carl Jung]]'s definition of abstraction broadened its scope beyond the thinking process to include exactly four mutually exclusive, different complementary psychological functions: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. Together they form a structural totality of the differentiating abstraction process. Abstraction operates in one of these functions when it excludes the simultaneous influence of the other functions and other irrelevancies, such as emotion. Abstraction requires selective use of this structural split of abilities in the psyche. The opposite of abstraction is [[concretism (psychology)|concretism]]. ''Abstraction'' is one of Jung's 57 definitions in Chapter XI of ''[[Psychological Types]]''.
{{blockquote|
There is an abstract ''thinking'', just as there is abstract ''feeling'', ''sensation'' and ''intuition''. Abstract thinking singles out the rational, logical qualities ... Abstract feeling does the same with ... its feeling-values. ... I put abstract feelings on the same level as abstract thoughts. ... Abstract sensation would be aesthetic as opposed to sensuous ''sensation'' and abstract intuition would be symbolic as opposed to fantastic ''intuition''. (Jung, [1921] (1971): par. 678).
}}

===In social theory===
[[Social theory|Social theorists]] deal with abstraction both as an ideational and as a material process. [[Alfred Sohn-Rethel]] (1899–1990) asked: "Can there be abstraction other than by thought?"<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He used the example of commodity abstraction to show that abstraction occurs in practice as people create systems of abstract exchange that extend beyond the immediate physicality of the object and yet have real and immediate consequences. This work was extended through the 'Constitutive Abstraction' approach of writers associated with the Journal [[Arena (Australian publishing co-operative)|''Arena'']]. Two books that have taken this theme of the abstraction of social relations as an organizing process in human history are ''Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community'' (1996)<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = James
 | first1 = Paul
 | author-link1 = Paul James (academic)
 | title = Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LYe0sznllHgC
 | series = Volume 1 of Towards a theory of abstract community
 | date = 14 October 1996
 | location = London
 | publisher = SAGE
 | publication-date = 1996
 | isbn = 9780761950738
 | access-date = 30 June 2021
}}
</ref>
and an associated volume published in 2006, ''Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In''.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = James
 | first1 = Paul
 | author-link1 = Paul James (academic)
 | title = Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back in
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SZUv65PpFNMC
 | series = Volume 1 of Towards a Theory of Abstract Community
 | date = 20 April 2006
 | location = London
 | publisher = SAGE
 | publication-date = 2006
 | isbn = 9781446230541
 | access-date = 30 June 2021
}}
</ref>
These books argue that a [[nation]] is an abstract community bringing together strangers who will never meet as such; thus constituting materially real and substantial, but abstracted and mediated relations. The books suggest that contemporary processes of [[globalization]] and [[Mediatization (media)|mediatization]] have contributed to materially abstracting relations between people, with major consequences for how humans live their [[human life (disambiguation)|lives]].

One can readily argue that abstraction is an elementary methodological tool in several disciplines of social science. These disciplines have definite and different concepts of "man" that highlight those aspects of man and his behaviour by idealization that are relevant for the given [[human science]]. For example, {{lang|la|homo sociologicus|italic=no}} is the man as sociology abstracts and idealizes it, depicting man as a social being. Moreover, we could talk about {{lang|la|homo cyber sapiens|italic=no}}<ref>{{cite book |last= Steels |first=Luc |title= The Homo Cyber Sapiens, the Robot Homonidus Intelligens, and the 'Artificial Life' Approach to Artificial Intelligence |location= Brussels |publisher= Vrije Universiteit, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory |year= 1995 }}</ref> (the man who can extend his biologically determined intelligence thanks to new technologies), or {{lang|la|homo creativus|italic=no}}<ref>{{cite journal | last = Inkinen | first = Sam | year = 2009 | title = Homo Creativus – Creativity and Serendipity Management in Third Generation Science and Technology Parks | journal = Science and Public Policy | volume = 36| issue = 7 | pages = 537–548| doi = 10.3152/030234209X465570}}</ref> (who is simply creative).

Abstraction (combined with Weberian [[Idealization (science philosophy)|idealization]]) plays a crucial role in [[economics]] - hence abstractions such as [[market (economics)|"the market"]]<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Jones
 | first1 = Campbell
 | title = Can The Market Speak?
 | date = 26 April 2013
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aRVZAQAAQBAJ
 | location = Winchester
 | publisher = John Hunt Publishing
 | publication-date = 2013
 | page = 
 | isbn = 9781782790853
 | access-date = 30 June 2021
 | quote = Scrutiny of the idea of the market will reveal that behind the category 'the market' lies abstraction upon abstraction.
}}
</ref>
and the generalized concept of "[[business]]".<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Qalo
 | first1 = Ropate R.
 | title = Small Business: A Study of a Fijian Family : the Mucunabitu Iron Works Contractor Cooperative Society Limited
 | year = 1997
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EibtAAAAMAAJ
 | location = 
 | publisher = Mucunabita Education Trust
 | publication-date = 1997
 | pages = 18, 21
 | isbn = 9789823650012
 | access-date = 30 June 2021
 | quote = [...] the concept of abstraction to which business and money belong. [...] the business is allowed to function as an abstraction [...].
}}
</ref>
Breaking away from directly experienced reality was a common trend in 19th-century sciences (especially [[physics]]), and this was the effort which fundamentally determined the way economics tried (and still tries) to approach the economic aspects of social life. It is abstraction we meet in the case of both Newton's physics and the neoclassical theory, since the goal was to grasp the unchangeable and timeless essence of phenomena. For example, [[Isaac Newton|Newton]] created the concept of the material point by following the abstraction method so that he abstracted from the dimension and shape of any perceptible object, preserving only inertial and translational motion. Material point is the ultimate and common feature of all bodies. [[Neoclassical economists]] created the indefinitely abstract notion of [[homo economicus]] by following the same procedure. Economists abstract from all individual and personal qualities in order to get to those characteristics that embody the essence of economic activity. Eventually, it is the substance of the economic man that they try to grasp. Any characteristic beyond it only disturbs the functioning of this essential core.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last= Galbács |first=Peter |chapter=Methodological Principles and an Epistemological Introduction
 |pages=1–52|title= The Theory of New Classical Macroeconomics. A Positive Critique
 |location= Heidelberg/New York/Dordrecht/London |publisher= Springer |year=2015
 |isbn= 978-3-319-17578-2|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-17578-2 |series=Contributions to Economics
}}
</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Philosophy}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em|content=
* [[Abstract art]]
* [[Abstract and concrete]]
* [[Abstract interpretation]]
* [[Abstract labour and concrete labour]]
* [[Abstract structure]]
* [[Abstraction (sociology)]]
* [[Charles Sanders Peirce]]
* [[Concept]]
* [[Conceptual model]]
* [[Emergence]]
* [[Engaged theory]]
* [[Gottlob Frege]]
* [[High- and low-level]]
* [[Hypostatic abstraction]]
* [[Inventor's paradox]]
* [[Leaky abstraction]]
* [[Lyrical abstraction]]
* [[Nucleophilic abstraction]]
* [[Object of the mind]]
* [[Platonic realism]]
* [[Reification (knowledge representation)]]
* [[Symbol]]
* [[Politechnika Wrocławska]]
* [[Theory]]
}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book|title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd edition | year = 1992 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin (1992) | isbn = 0-395-44895-6}}
* Sohn-Rethel, Alfred (1977) ''Intellectual and manual labour: A critique of epistemology'', Humanities Press.
* {{cite journal|last=Schmandt-Besserat|first=Denise|author-link=Denise Schmandt-Besserat|title=Decipherment of the Earliest Tablets|journal=Science|volume=211|pages=283–285|year=1981|doi=10.1126/science.211.4479.283|pmid=17748027|issue=4479
|bibcode=1981Sci...211..283S}}.
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book | last= James | first= Paul |author-link= Paul James (academic) | title= Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community | url= https://archive.org/details/nationformationt00jame
 | url-access= registration |publisher= Sage Publications | location= London |year= 1996}}
* {{Cite book | last= James | first= Paul | title= Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In - Volume 2 of Towards a Theory of Abstract Community |url= https://www.academia.edu/1642214 | year= 2006 | publisher= Sage Publications | location= London }}
* {{cite book| last = Jung | first = C.G. | edition = 1921 | year = 1971 | title = Psychological Types | series=Collected Works | volume = 6 | location = Princeton, NJ | publisher = Princeton University Press | isbn = 0-691-01813-8}}.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|abstraction}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{InPho|idea|2013}}
* {{PhilPapers|search|Abstraction}}
* [http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/f/frege.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Gottlob Frege]
* [http://originresearch.com/sd/sd1.cfm Discussion at The Well concerning Abstraction hierarchy]

{{Human intelligence topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Abstraction| ]]
[[Category:Concepts in epistemology]]
[[Category:Concepts in metaphilosophy]]
[[Category:Concepts in metaphysics]]
[[Category:Thought]]