Editing Abstraction (section)

===In philosophy===
{{see also|Abstract object theory}}
Abstraction in [[philosophy]] is the process (or, to some, the alleged process) in [[concept]] formation of recognizing some set of common features in [[individual]]s, and on that basis forming a concept of that feature. The notion of abstraction is important to understanding some philosophical controversies surrounding [[empiricism]] and the [[problem of universals]]. It has also recently become popular in formal logic under [[predicate abstraction]]. Another philosophical tool for the discussion of abstraction is thought space.

[[John Locke]] defined abstraction in ''[[An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]]'':

'So words are used to stand as outward marks of our internal ideas, which are taken from particular things; but if every particular idea that we take in had its own special name, there would be no end to names. To prevent this, the mind makes particular ideas received from particular things become general; which it does by considering them as they are in the mind—mental appearances—separate from all other existences, and from the circumstances of real existence, such as time, place, and so on. This procedure is called abstraction. In it, an idea taken from a particular thing becomes a general representative of all of the same kind, and its name becomes a general name that is applicable to any existing thing that fits that abstract idea.' (2.11.9)