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connotation of a word is therefore an abstract term, though it is probably not itself connotative; adjectives are concrete, not abstract, e.g. " equal " is concrete, " equality " abstract (cf. See also:

Aristotle's aphaeresis and prosthesis). (2) The process of abstraction takes an important See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place both in psychological and metaphysical See also:

SPECULATION

speculation. The psychologist finds among the earliest of his problems the question as to the process from the See also:

PERCEPTION (from Lat. percipere, to perceive)

perception of things seen and heard to See also:

MENTAL

mental conceptions, which are ultimately distinct from immediate perception (see See also:

PSYCHOLOGY). When the mind, beginning with isolated individuals, See also:

groups them together in virtue of perceived resemblances and arrives at a unity in See also:

PLURALITY (0. Fr. pluralitd, Late Lat. pluralitas, plural number)

plurality, the process by which attention is diverted from individuals and concentrated on a single inclusive concept (i.e. See also:

CLASSIFICATION (Lat. classis, a class, probably from the root cal-, cla-, as in Gr. icaMce, clamor)

classification) is one of abstraction. All orderly thought and all increase of knowledge depend partly on establishing a clear and accurate connexion between particular things and See also:

general ideas, rules and principles.

The nature of the resultant concepts belongs to the See also:

GREAT

great controversy between See also:

NOMINALISM (from Lat. nomen, name)

Nominalism, See also:

REALISM (from Low Lat. realis, appertaining to res, things, as opposed to ideas and imaginations)

Realism and See also:

CONCEPTUALISM (from " Concept ")

Conceptualism. See also:

META

Meta-physics, again, is concerned with the ultimate problems of matter and spirit; it endeavours to go behind the phenomena of sense and See also:

FOCUS (Latin for " hearth " or " fireplace ")

focus its attention on the fundamental truths which are the only logical bases of natural See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science. This, again, is a process of abstraction, the attainment of abstract ideas which, apart from the concrete individuals, are conceived as having a substantive existence. The final step in the .process is the conception of the See also:

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

Absolute (q.v.), which is abstract in the most See also:

COMPLETE

complete sense. Abstraction differs from See also:

ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

Analysis, inasmuch as its See also:

OBJECT

object is to select a particular quality for See also:

CONSIDERATION (from Lat. considerare, to look at closely, examine, generally taken to be from con-, and the base seen in sidus, sideris, a star, the word being supposed to be originally an astrological or astronomical term)

consideration in itself as it is found in all the See also:

OBJECTS

objects to which it belongs, whereas analysis considers all the qualities which belong to a single object.

End of Article: ABSTRACTION (Lat. abs and trahere)

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