Abstract and Concrete
Abstract and Concrete are philosophical concepts concerned with the development of conceptual knowledge. An understanding of what is meant by “abstract” and “concrete” is vital to making sense of dialectics.For Hegel and for Marx, the contrast between abstract and concrete does NOT mean the contrast between an idea and reality. Rather ‘A concrete concept is the combination of many abstractions’. A concept, such as a number or a definition, is very abstract because it indicates just one of millions of the aspects that a concrete thing has, or a brand new idea which has not yet accrued nuances and associations. Concepts are the more concrete the more connections they have. If we say “The British working class are those who work for a wage and live in the UK,” then we've made a very abstract concept. To make it more concrete is to show the many aspects of it; showing the historical circumstances of its rise and development, the state of the world it developed in, etc.
Exactly so with you and me. As we stand we are abstractions to have an understanding of each other as concrete we would have to draw in all the attenuations of our lives, our social, economic and political influcences throughout our lives, then cognitivly map these as abstractions into a concrete
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