Editing Abstraction (section)

===Ontological status===
The way that physical objects, like rocks and trees, have [[category of being|being]] differs from the way that properties of abstract concepts or relations have being, for example the way the [[concrete (philosophy)|concrete]], [[particular]], [[individual]]s pictured in ''[[#Simplification and ordering|picture 1]]'' exist differs from the way the concepts illustrated in ''[[#Simplification and ordering|graph 1]]'' exist. That difference accounts for the [[ontological]] usefulness of the word "abstract". The word applies to properties and relations to mark the fact that, if they exist, they do not exist in space or time, but that instances of them can exist, potentially in many different places and times.