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Literary notes about abstract (AI summary)

In literature, the term "abstract" is employed to denote ideas or qualities that are separated from concrete, tangible reality. For instance, it is used to describe a question or concept that exists initially as an intangible potential before becoming manifest in the physical world [1]. Writers often contrast the abstract with the concrete to emphasize a preference for specificity over vagueness, suggesting that while general principles have a high intellectual appeal, they must ultimately be grounded in particular details [2][3]. Moreover, in discussions ranging from art to mathematics, abstract is invoked to characterize elements that defy physical representation—such as the nonmaterial qualities of form and number—thus highlighting the tension between empirical experience and intellectual generalization [4][5][6].
  1. Whilst the abstract question occupies your intellect, nature brings it in the concrete to be solved by your hands.
    — from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  2. Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.
    — from The Elements of Style by William Strunk
  3. We begin with the most abstract, and proceed from the abstract to the concrete.
    — from Timaeus by Plato
  4. Have abstract proportions any significance in art, as we found abstract line and mass arrangements had?
    — from The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed
  5. He would probably have regarded any abstract truth of number or figure as higher than the greatest of them.
    — from The Republic by Plato
  6. The higher arithmetic is concerned, not with visible or tangible objects, but with abstract numbers.
    — from The Republic of Plato by Plato

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