Abstraction (abstractio — distraction) — the position of the focus of a person’s attention, a look at the situation (a person, an object, etc.) from the third position of perception, placing oneself outside the situation, above the situation. Abstraction is carried out in two steps: on the one hand, attention is diverted from small, insignificant details, on the other hand, it concentrates on more general and more important things.
As a metaphor: you can look at an object close up and you will notice a lot of small details, and if you put the object away, small details will not be visible, but it is easier to consider the general outlines and shape of the object.
The result of abstraction is called abstraction.
Concept series
Abstraction, on the contrary, is concretization. If abstraction is a removal from the subject under study, then concretization is the opposite: approximation and highlighting the smallest details.
For example: I will lead a healthy lifestyle — general words and abstraction.
I will do exercises for 15 minutes a day and douse myself with cold water every day — this is specific.
Abstraction goals:
- Identification, search for commonalities. In this case, those signs that distinguish one object (situation, person) from another fall out of the focus of attention, and attention is focused on what is common between them.
- Generalization and systematization. In this case, on the contrary, the key differences fall into the focus of attention, according to which objects can be divided into independent and easily distinguishable groups. For example, I have a specific goal for the day, but there are 30 days in a month, and if I generalize the goal for every day, I get a goal for the month. Months add up to a year — we summarize the goals for the month and get the goals for the year, and so on.
- Clarity and specificity of wording. In this case, the focus is on a certain concept — and only what it means. Everything else is out of focus. For example, if I say the word «growth» — I mean only the process of quantitative changes, when I say «development» — strictly the process of qualitative changes. In this case, the task of abstraction is to separate concepts: what means what and where are the boundaries of one concept, where is another.
- Sample creation. If I am interested in a certain quality of an object, which I take as a starting point, I consciously single out it and bring it, exaggerating, to the «purity of the equivalent.» That is, I know for sure that in the real world such a quality cannot exist in its pure form — but I deliberately introduce it in order to have a sample (or a starting point, from which we proceed). For example, Euclid He based his geometry on the primary terms “point”, “line” and “plane”, which, in the sense that Euclid understood them, do not exist in the real world.
Why abstraction is needed
Setting goals for life
In life, abstraction helps to set a general direction within which it is already possible to formulate specific goals. For example, a person determines for himself the general direction of life (see the ways of human life) — and what he will do is already secondary. It is easier and more correct to start with the choice of a general direction, and finish with specifics to the smallest detail.
Formation of emotional states
For example, abstract from a fairy tale and live in reality when necessary, or vice versa.