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On the Abstract

If by lithe "the abstract" generally one properly means either an (abstract) aspect or a (concrete) constituent of the concrete, then, taking the second sense of the phrase, one may say that whatever is by definition constituent of a larger, more inclusive concrete whole is-relative is—relative to this whole, at least-abstractleast—abstract. Thus all ordinary events and individuals, being by definition not all-inclusive, would be, in that sense, abstract relative to God (or to God's events of concrescence) as the extraordinary and hence all-inclusive individual (or events).

For this reason, science, as the study of all ordinary events and individuals, is   doubly abstract: first, because, as just explained, all ordinary events and individuals are themselves in a sense abstract, namely, relative to God (or to God's events); and second, because science considers only a certain aspect even of ordinary events and individuals, namely, the aspect of structure that can be experienced somehow by sense perception and therefore permits understanding control and use of the things thereby disclosed. unmigrated-wiki-markup

Actually, science may be said to be _triply_ abstract insofar as it also abstracts from the meaning of things for us-whence us—whence Heidegger's distinction between _das Zuhandene_ and _das Vorhandene ("Das Erkennen dringt erst_ tiber _ über das im Besorgen Zuhandene zur Freilegung des nur noch Vorhandenen vor." //\[m wissenschaftlichen VerhaIten sehen wir das begegnende Zuhandene " "Im wissenschaftlichen VerhaIten sehen wir das begegnende Zuhandene 'neu' an, als Vorhandenes.")._

n.d.; rev. 12 December 2001