Abstraction

"Abstraction" is the opposite of "concreteness" or "figurativeness." In contrast with the concrete world and world view - and their Physical or representative nature - "abstraction" represents the work of intelligence that focuses on a certain quality or common nature and essence&sbquo extracts them&sbquo and treats them as the sole subject of thinking. The act of eliminating certain aspects of the environment and picking out what remains is an ability that every living being&sbquo no matter how primitive&sbquo possesses to survive. The human being&sbquo however&sbquo possesses a highly developed paragraphic language&sbquo and is in particular capable of abstracting elaborately and intricately through making full use of universal concepts at various levels through that paragraphic language. This is thought possible because the human being is capable of detaching herself from her concrete&sbquo individual situation&sbquo and&sbquo further&sbquo handle matters by distancing herself from the very situation she is facing. It is deemed that this ability of abstraction occupies a major part of human intelligence. In other words&sbquo the progress of modern science has been possible owing to this ability of abstraction. In mathematics&sbquo for example&sbquo it became possible to more accurately understand concrete matters and accumulate such knowledge through abstraction with mathematical symbols. Through this abstractive thinking human beings became able to organize concrete world views through intellectual thought. On the other hand&sbquo abstract art&sbquo which pursues abstraction for its own sake&sbquo is at times looked upon cautiously and criticized. This is because some see in an activity that makes abstraction its sole purpose the potential for social instability and the danger of terminating concrete thought. It is&sbquo therefore&sbquo necessary to deal more cautiously with concreteness and abstraction as contrasting and important methods for thinking and expression regarding sophisticated methodologies and expressions that idealize intellectual functions. In design. both concreteness and abstraction are concepts that can be incorporated into everything from the methods of sorting and expressing thoughts to the expression itself.

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