What is abstraction? Each person at least once in his life heard this term, but not everyone knows what it means. In modern science, it is generally accepted that abstraction is a kind of process of knowing the external world, during which there is a distraction from any non-essential properties and sides of the phenomenon (or object) in order to be able to distinguish essential and regular signs.
As a result of such a distraction, a generalization of facts and the allocation of important laws take place.
What is abstraction? A brief historical outline
The very word "abstraction" in translation from Latin means "distraction." For the first time this term was proposed by Aristotle. So what is abstraction? Aristotle believed that this is a subjective device of thinking, one-sided cognition and study of reality. By the way, this philosopher argued that it was abstraction that created science. After all, science and philosophy are generalized concepts that are impossible without abstract thinking. Unfortunately, the theory of the famous philosopher did not find recognition.
Over the next several centuries, philosophers and scientists believed that abstraction was the so-called universal. After religion and theology were replaced by real science, relying only on research results, this concept took on a different meaning. It was believed that abstraction is just a psychic feature of a person whose mind could not otherwise know the inseparable nature of things.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the opinions of scientists at the expense of abstract thinking diverged. Some consider this only a feature of consciousness, while others argue that this form of cognition is of great importance in the life of every person.
Abstract concepts and abstraction
It is believed that an abstract concept is the highest form of generalized thinking. To begin with, consciousness highlights the sensory properties of an object, and then slowly proceeds to the definition and analysis of its insensitive forms. Thus, the abstract properties of any objects are determined after analyzing the relationship between them, a certain connection. It is believed that the highest form of generalization helps to identify more and more important and essential signs of any things.
Abstraction is the mental selection of some characteristics of the elements of the same set. Thus, consciousness can not only determine some important, fundamental properties, but also predict some still unknown patterns.
Forms of Abstract Thinking
Over several millennia of studying this form of human cognition, some types of abstraction have been identified. For example, if we talk about the goal of generalized perception, then we can distinguish the following types:
- Formal abstraction is a process of thinking, during which the human consciousness identifies such characteristics of an object that cannot exist by themselves. An example is the shape or color of an element. Interestingly, that is how small children learn this way. Formal abstraction is the basis of theoretical thinking.
- Content abstraction - during the study of the subject, relatively independent properties are distinguished. For example, cells of the body (which exist by themselves) are isolated as its structural parts.
There are other types of abstract cognition:
- Sensual, or primitive, abstraction - in the process of cognition, a person selects some certain properties of an object, while not paying attention to all the others. For example, a person selects a color, but does not take into account the form.
- Generalizing abstraction - during the study, attention is paid only to the general properties of objects, while some individual features are discarded.
In fact, it is difficult to give an unambiguous answer to the question of what abstraction is. Indeed, the processes of generalizing thinking can be very diverse and versatile.