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In philosophy and the arts, a fundamental distinction is between things that are abstract and things that are concrete. While there is no general consensus as to how to precisely define the two, examples include that things like numbers , sets , and ideas are abstract objects, while plants , dogs , and planets are concrete objects. [ 1 ]
Paradigmatically, universals are abstract (e.g. humanity), whereas particulars are concrete (e.g. the personhood of Socrates). However, universals are not necessarily abstract and particulars are not necessarily concrete. [3] For example, one might hold that numbers are particular yet abstract objects.
An abstract, high-level construal of an activity (e.g., "learning to speak French") may lead to a more positive evaluation of that activity than a concrete, low-level construal (e.g., "learning to conjugate the irregular French verb 'avoir ' "). Thus, CLT predicts that we will think about the value of the low-level construals when evaluating an ...
Abstract objects, by contrast, are outside space and time, such as the number 7 and the set of integers. They lack causal powers and do not undergo changes. [48] [h] The existence and nature of abstract objects remain subjects of philosophical debate. [50] Concrete objects encountered in everyday life are complex entities composed of various parts.
A notion that philosophy, especially ontology and the philosophy of mathematics, should abstain from set theory owes much to the writings of Nelson Goodman (see especially Goodman 1940 and 1977), who argued that concrete and abstract entities having no parts, called individuals, exist. Collections of individuals likewise exist, but two ...
Particulars are individual entities and include both concrete objects, like Aristotle, the Eiffel Tower, or a specific apple, and abstract objects, like the number 2 or a specific set in mathematics. They are unique, non-repeatable entities and contrast with universals , like the color red, which can at the same time exist in several places and ...
Whether Elon Musk is the real “president,” merely the “prime minister” or just Donald Trump’s multibillionaire enforcer, he’s carving out an unprecedented role that could raise ...
Particulars are often seen as concrete, spatiotemporal entities as opposed to abstract entities, such as properties or numbers. There are, however, theories of abstract particulars or tropes . For example, Socrates is a particular (there's only one Socrates-the-teacher-of-Plato and one cannot make copies of him, e.g., by cloning him, without ...