What is abstract thinking?Can it really be abstract when it is conditioned,prompted by the life of the thinker

Answer 1

Don't confuse abstract with random.

Abstract thought involved a simplification and drawing out of prinicples and qualities from a richness of not completely relevant data. It is something we are all familiar with to one degree or another.

You can, for example, identify a 'table' when you see one, even if it is dissimilar from other tables you have seen before. Somewhere in your head there is an abstract concept for a table... one that doesn't involve colours, legs, materials, and many other things that a real object MUST have.

There is no reason why abstraction cannot be conditioned... indeed a really thorough abstraction probably requires a certain amount of training, and communication abstractions usually assumes a certain commonality of experience.

In some senses abstraction is LIKE randomness - both are freer than more concrete lines of thought. But unlike randomness abstraction still MUST refer to SOMETHING. It cannot be totally free or it will be completely devoid of meaning. Nor is it uncommon, if you lack the commonality or the training, to mistake something that is abstract for something that is random. If you don't percieve the pattern, then it may be easy to believe that there is none!

Answer 2

Abstract thinking, as compared to concrete thinking, is distinct in that an object may be considered beyond its physical presence. That is, it may be imagined.

For a more detailed discussion, google "concrete thought," "formal operations," and "abstract categorical thinking."

Answer 3

abstract thinking is being able to abstract (remove) an object or feeling or thought, from its physical or related to situation,,,,

it is, for example, seeing a red round ball,,,,, learning that is a red round ball,, but then being able to relate all three words to other objects or situations,,,, a red dress,,, a round wheel,,,, a baseball,,, etc etc,, the words red, round, and ball, can apply to many other objects then just that red round ball.

you pull the meaning from the known,, and apply it to other things, it is a major part of the ablility to learn

so no , it doesnt mean totally thinking something up from scratch,,, nor does it mean things non-physical