Abstraction

Use in the book

The art of metaphysical writing is to make the abstract perceptible and palpable; reversing that movement is a fault. This criticism concerns expression and intellectual access, not a denial that abstract objects may be discussed. The note pairing matter with excessive abstraction shows two different obstructions: matter obscures sight, whereas abstractions carry and hold it where nothing is. The later series repeats a substitution of the abstract for the metaphysical, matching it with obscure for clear and shadow for image. Those oppositions are Joubert’s working distinctions and should not be silently replaced by the assumption that all metaphysics is abstraction.

Places to read

1. I, p. 135, entry 7, ¶1Good metaphysical writing makes the abstract palpable.
2. II, p. 588, entry 11, ¶1Too many abstractions misdirect intellectual sight.
3. II, p. 760, entry 11, ¶3Abstract and metaphysical are explicitly opposed.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains palpable, sight, shadow and image. The opaque X-to-Δ notation on II.760 remains unexplained; Δ is a qualified diplomatic approximation of a damaged triangular sign, not a secure mathematical key.

Concrete

French: concret.

The short paired direction moves from abstract to concrete and from unseen to seen. The English translation retains both nominal movements, the semicolon and the linking and without supplying a governing verb. Their juxtaposition supports a relation to perceptible presentation, but does not explicitly define concrete as identical with visible or explain the whole path between them.

Places to read: II, p. 719, entry begun p. 718, no. 4, ¶7.