Re: [xmca] Abstract to Concrete

[Christine Schweighart <schweighartc@gmail.com>]

Hi Andy,
In  the third action, developing an abstraction - Yryo's work uses a
generic model in dual stimulation. This draws upon his historical
development as argued in his research.
 Is it not also possible to explore this third action as an abstraction
without that particular model structure,  I ask because I'm reading this
section of Chapter 1 of Ilyenkov:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/abstract/abstra1d.htm
"The task of logic as a science grows out of the real needs of the
developing cognition of the phenomena of the surrounding world. The
question with which a thinking man turns to logic as a science is not at
all the question of how abstractions should be made in general, how one can
learn to abstract the general from the sensually given facts. To do that,
one need not at all ask the logicians’ advice, one merely has to have a
command of one’s native language and the ability to concentrate one’s
attention on the sensually given similarities and differences.

The question with which one turns to logic and which can only be answered
by logic involves a much more complicated cognitive task: how is one to
work out an abstraction which would express the objective essence of facts
given in contemplation and notions? The manner in which processing a mass
of empirically obvious facts yields a generalisation expressing the real
nature of the object under study – that is the actual problem, whose
solution is identical with that of the problem of the nature of concepts as
distinct from abstract general notions."

and it strikes me that dual stimulation might be upon notions from 'action
2' ...

 Christine.
On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:

> Taylor & Francis allows xmca only discuss one article per issue, but I see
> no reason why we couldn't discuss this excerpt from Engestrom's paper. It
> concerns "rising from the abstract to the concrete," which we were recently
> discussing, but without resolution.
>
> --------------------------
>
> Ascending from the abstract to the concrete is achieved through specific
> epistemic or learning actions. Together these actions form an expansive
> cycle or spiral. An ideal-typical sequence of epistemic actions in
> ascending from the abstract to the concrete may be described as follows:
>
> •         The first action is that of questioning, criticizing, or
> rejecting some aspects of the accepted practice and existing wisdom. For
> the sake of simplicity, we will call this action questioning.
>
> •         The second action is that of analyzing the situation. Analysis
> involves mental, discursive or practical transformation of the situation in
> order to find out origins and explanatory mechanisms.
>
> •         The third action is that of modeling a new explanatory
> relationship in some publicly observable and transmittable medium. This
> means constructing an explicit, simplified model of the new idea, a germ
> cell, that explains the problematic situation and offers a perspective for
> resolving and transforming it.
>
> •         The fourth action is that of examining the model, running,
> operating, and experimenting on it in order to fully grasp its dynamics,
> potentials, and limitations.
>
> •         The fifth action is that of implementing the model, concretizing
> it by means of practical applications, enrichments, and conceptual
> extensions.
>
> •         The sixth and seventh actions are those of reflecting on and
> evaluating the process and consolidating its outcomes into a new stable
> form of practice.
>
>
> --------------------
>
> MCA 19(1) pp. 288-289.
>
> Andy
>
> mike cole wrote:
>
>> Dear Colleagues--
>>
>> I have been reminded of an issue that has been nagging at me for some
>> time,
>> that we have not had a discussion of any of the articles in the special
>> issue of MCA called "concepts in the wild."  The article selected by a
>> plurality of
>> voters was by Chuck Bazerman on concepts in the process of writing. But
>> no one has
>> commented on the article. That seems to me a shame. In fact, the entire
>> issue, with its stellar set of authors and papers is worth discussing,
>> and I
>> figure  there will be more articles on this general theme in the time to
>> come, spanning as it does, the story of all those practice in which we
>> acquire and deploy concepts in organizing our social life and experience
>> the world.
>>
>>
>
>
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