| 释义 |
abstraction|æbˈstrækʃən|
[a. Fr. abstraction (14th c. in Littré), ad. L. abstractiōn-em, n. of action f. abstract-us, pa. pple. of abstrahĕre; see abstract.]
1. The act of withdrawing; withdrawal, separation or removal; in modern usage euphem. secret or dishonest removal; pilfering, purloining.
1549Compl. of Scotl. (1873) i. 19 He dois chestee them be the abstraction of..superfluite. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 122 I say, Justice must have..abstraction from all affections of love, hate, or self-interest. 1794Paley Evid. (1817) ii. ii. 65 Amongst the negative qualities of our religion..we may reckon its complete abstraction from all views of ecclesiastical or civil policy. 1818Faraday Exp. Res. vi. 13 He there states its production to be dependent on the abstraction of ammonia by the atmosphere. 1823Lamb Elia (1865) Ser. ii. vii. 284 He robs nothing but the revenue,—an abstraction I never greatly cared about. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. 5 (1876) A wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community.
†2. ‘Abstraction, in chemistry, denotes the drawing off, or exhaling away, a menstruum from the subject it had been put to dissolve. Some also use the word as synonymous with distillation or even cohobation.’ Chambers Cyc. Suppl. 1753.
3. The act or process of separating in thought, of considering a thing independently of its associations; or a substance independently of its attributes; or an attribute or quality independently of the substance to which it belongs.
1647H. More Poems 126 Next argument let be abstraction, When as the soul with notion precise Keeps off the corporal condition. 1710Berkeley Hum. Knowl. i. §5 Can there be a nicer strain of abstraction than to distinguish the existence of sensible objects from their being perceived. 1782Priestley Mat. & Spir. I. x. 113 Mr. Locke..observed..that abstraction is nothing more than leaving out of a number of resembling ideas what is peculiar to each. 1855Bain Senses & Intell. (1864) iii. iv. §17. 606 The first in order of the scientific processes is Abstraction, or the generalizing of some property, so as to present it to the mind, apart from the other properties that usually go along with it in nature. 1859Sir W. Hamilton Lect. on Metaph. II. xxxiv. 285 Abstraction is thus not a positive act of mind, as it is often erroneously described in philosophical treatises,—it is merely a negation to one or more objects, in consequence of its concentration on another.
4. The result of abstracting: the idea of something which has no independent existence; a thing which exists only in idea; something visionary.
1644Milton Educ. (1738) 136 They present their young unmatriculated novices at first coming with the most intellective abstractions of logic and metaphysics. 1818Hazlitt Eng. Poets (1870) ii. 44 Death is a mighty abstraction, like Night, or Space, or Time. 1850Gladstone Gleanings V. lxxvi. 218 Laws are abstractions until they are put into execution. 1851‘L. Mariotti’ Italy in 1848, i. 4 They can see nothing in it, save only an idle, chimerical abstraction. 1878G. A. Simcox in Academy 605/3 Science, strictly speaking, is an abstraction, and is not and never can be adequate to the whole, even of our experience.
5. A state of withdrawal or seclusion from worldly things or things of sense.
1649Jer. Taylor Great Exemp. (1653) 124 Lifted up by the abstractions of this first degree of mortification. a1744Pope Let. (J.) A hermit wishes to be praised for his abstraction.
6. The state of mental withdrawal; inattention to things present; absence of mind.
1790Boswell Johnson (Rtldg.) xxiv. 215 As he [Johnson] could neither see nor hear at such a distance from the stage, he was wrapped up in grave abstraction. 1848L. Hunt Jar of Honey iii. 31 Sir Isaac Newton carried abstraction far enough, when he used a lady's finger for a tobacco-stopper.
7. In the fine arts, the practice or state of freedom from representational qualities; a work of art with these characteristics.
1915Forum (N.Y.) Dec. 662 Sheeler..fears to take the final leap into abstraction, not feeling sufficiently sure of his desires. 1921A. Huxley Crome Yellow xii. 117 Soon, he says, there'll be just the blank canvas. That's the logical conclusion. Complete abstraction. 1948R. O. Dunlop Understanding Pictures iv. 44 Cubism was a half-way house on the road to pure abstraction. 1954Wyndham Lewis Demon of Progress in Arts i. vii. 29 It is usually those of very little talent who furnish the little crowds of people painting empty abstractions.
8. Comb. abstraction-monger, one who deals with visionary ideas.
1860R. A. Vaughan Ho. w. Mystics (2 ed.) II. 95 His philosophy is never that of the abstraction-monger. |