Concrete (philosophy)

Information about Concrete (philosophy)

''For other uses, see Abstract

It is a commonplace in philosophy that every thing or object is either abstract or concrete. Abstract objects are sometimes called abstracta (sing. abstractum) and concrete objects are sometimes called concreta (sing. concretum). The abstract-concrete distinction is often introduced and initially understood in terms of paradigmatic examples of objects of each kind. (See Fig. 1)

Fig. 1 Examples of Abstract and Concrete Objects
Abstracta	Concreta
Tennis	Pete Sampras
Redness	A particular inscription of the word "red"
The number 5	My cat
Justice	Sandra Day O'Connor
The empty set	...

Philosophers disagree over just what makes the items in the first column abstract. One well-known proposal is that an object is abstract if and only if it lacks a location in space. Thus justice is abstract because it seems impossible to say where it is. One potential problem for this proposal is that certain typically abstract objects, like the game of tennis, arguably do have a sort of spatial location (e.g. "Tennis is alive and well in New York City"). Another problem is that some arguably concrete mental objects (e.g. Tim’s pang of concern for his eldest daughter) do not have spatial location.

Another popular proposal for drawing the abstract-concrete distinction has it that an object is abstract just in case it lacks any causal powers. A causal power is an ability to affect something causally. Thus the empty set is abstract because it cannot act on other objects. One problem for this view is that it is not clear exactly what it is to have a causal power. When my six dogs chew up my copy of The Economist, presumably the dogs are exercising their causal powers. Why shouldn’t we say in this case that the number six is also exercising its causal powers? There is no widely accepted answer to questions such as this. ^[1]

Abstract objects have often garnered the interest of philosophers because they are taken to raise problems for popular theories. In ontology, abstract objects are considered problematic for physicalism and naturalism. Historically, the most important ontological dispute about abstract objects has been the problem of universals. In epistemology, abstract objects are considered problematic for empiricism. If abstracta lack causal powers or spatial location, how do we know about them? It is hard to say how they can affect our sensory experiences, and yet we seem to agree on a wide range of claims about them. Some, such as Edward Zalta and arguably Plato (in his Theory of Forms), have held that abstract objects constitute the defining subject matter of metaphysics or philosophical inquiry more broadly. To the extent that philosophy is independent of empirical research, and to the extent that empirical questions do not inform questions about abstracta, philosophy would seem specially suited to answering these latter questions.

Footnotes

1. ^ For a more detailed exploration of the abstract-concrete distinction, follow the link below to the Stanford Encyclopedia article.

External links

Abstract Objects at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Nominalism, Realism, Conceptualism, from The Catholic Encyclopedia

Abstract art,
Abstract (law), a brief statement of the most important points of one or more legal documents
Abstract (summary), an abbreviated summary of any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline.

..... Click the link for more information.

Ontology is a study of conceptions of reality and the nature of being. In philosophy, ontology (from the Greek ὤν, genitive ὄντος: of being (part.
..... Click the link for more information.

Physicalism is a philosophical position holding that everything which exists is no more extensive than its physical properties; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things.
..... Click the link for more information.

Naturalism may refer to:

Naturalism (philosophy), any of several philosophical stances wherein all phenomena or hypotheses commonly labeled as supernatural, are either false or not inherently different from natural phenomena or hypotheses

..... Click the link for more information.

The problem of universals refers to a set of problems that arise when people think about the nature and status of the properties or qualities of objects. Universals are best understood in contrast to individuals. An individual is an object, like a car or a rose.
..... Click the link for more information.

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief.

The term "epistemology" is based on the Greek words "
..... Click the link for more information.

In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas.
..... Click the link for more information.

Edward N. Zalta is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Information.

His research specialties include:

Metaphysics and Epistemology
Philosophy of Logic
Philosophy of language and Intensional logic

..... Click the link for more information.

PLATO was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois and later taken over by Control Data Corporation (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on.
..... Click the link for more information.

Platonism

Platonic idealism
Platonic realism
Middle Platonism
Neoplatonism

Platonic epistemology
Socratic method
Socratic dialogue
Theory of forms
Platonic doctrine of recollection
Individuals
Plato
Socrates

..... Click the link for more information.

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science, traditionally including cosmology and ontology. It is also concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of being and the world.
..... Click the link for more information.

Abstraction is the process of generalization by reducing the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, typically in order to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose.
..... Click the link for more information.

The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition, defines nominalism as "the doctrine holding that abstract concepts, general terms, or universals have no independent existence but exist only as names.
..... Click the link for more information.

object is a thing, an entity, or a being. This may be taken in several senses.

In its weakest sense, the word object is the most all-purpose of nouns, and can replace a noun in any sentence at all.
..... Click the link for more information.

Philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics.

Recurrent themes include:

* What are the sources of mathematical subject matter?

..... Click the link for more information.

In metaphysics, a universal is a type, a property, or a relation. The noun universal contrasts with individual, while the adjective universal contrasts with particular or sometimes with concrete.
..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

Herod_Archelaus

iPedia Free Information Center

Concrete (philosophy)

Information about Concrete (philosophy)

Footnotes

See also

External links