Abstraction
One particularly useful method of thinking is that
of abstraction. Abstraction is a word, which stands for the process of
conceptualisation.[1] Look up the
definition of “two”. You will find the dictionary say something rather
disappointing like: “two is a number between one and three”, or “the sum of one
and one”. Dictionaries are circular documents.[2]
A word can only be defined with reference to other words. But even so. That is
going a bit far. Try it yourself. Define “two.” Soon you will come to something
like two is two of something: two apples. That means you have conceptualised
the “twoness” of a pair of apples. You have grouped them into an abstraction of
their similarities and differences.
Abstraction means “to conceptualise” or “to take
away”, or “to separate”. It also means “to generalise as opposed to
particularise”. You can abstract in several ways.
Formal reduction is what a painter like Raphael did
with human beings. His figures do not really look like any one person, but
appear more like generalised human beings. Sometimes their sex is even a bit
ambiguous. Much African sculpture from below the Sahara Desert also abstracts
the human figure: the statues are a formal reduction of their model. Legs are
reduced to cylinders, the face becomes a schema of the real thing. Picasso
adopted this technique during his cubist phase.
How has this helped people?
Well, it has actually made it possible to establish comparisons: a leg is like a cylinder. That is a first step
in the attempt to relate the leg to
other things. That relation could become useful. It might lead to the idea of a
column…. Furthermore, abstractions made the invisible visible in some way, it
can help make the inside of people visible in some way. Through complex associations involving
symbols and such objects, which have a particular form also achieve a
particular emotional charge. In other words, abstraction is a method whereby we
become aware of connections between ourselves and the world around us.
That function of abstraction between ourselves and
the world of which we are a part is related to symbolic representation. Symbols
are signs, which represent desires and aspirations. They can also be used to
represent belonging. Belonging is a form of attachment that is not physical
but, for lack of a better word, magical.
Magic is something whereby symbols can alter the behaviour of people. In a sense the spoken words: “this watch lying on the table is mine” are magic words. They do not physically prevent you from taking the watch and keeping it, even so, they do prevent you from taking the watch. If you chose to ignore the summons you will be labelled a thief and be subject to the rigours of the law. Either way, these words of magic have changed us.