[Inquiry] Re: Blocks On The Road Of Inquiry

[Jon Awbrey]

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BOTROI.  Note 12

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So how can we sift out the theoretical potential, and I would even
say the practical necessity, of using hypostatic abstractions, with
all due examination of their warrants, from what I criticize as the
methodological error of reifying categories, petrifying concepts,
and sedimenting ideal types, as though cast in solid bedrock?

The first difference I notice is this.  In the wise use
of abstractions, whether prescisive or hypostatic, one
tends to remain aware of their status as abstractions,
and this involves an awareness of the concrete things
from which the abstraction is formed.  In doing this,
one cannot help but to realize that the conception
captures only a tiny facet of the object reality.
This leaves the mind free to step back and take
another glance from another angle or distance.

In contrast, the error of reifying concepts acts to
overwrite the reality with the conceit of the image.
A world ill-lost leaves one transfixed in the glare.

Jon Awbrey

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inquiry e-lab: http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/
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