"The greatest certainty is found in the greatest abstraction" (Plato).
"Abstraction is an integral part of reality" (Basarab Nicolescu).
"Everything we grant existence to is the result of a process of linguistic reification" (Quine).
"Substantial reification is theoretical" (Quine).
Abstraction
To abstract is the act of conceptually separating something from something, to put something mentally apart. In abstraction there are different philosophical schools:
Rationalists and realist metaphysicians admit abstract entities. For Plato, abstract entities are the only real ones. The objects of the world are instances, projections of the world of ideas or forms.
Empiricists reject abstract entities because they cannot be experienced by the physical senses.
Nominalists believe it is possible to refer to objects with the same name and with common properties without reference to the abstract.
In abstraction, each concept encompasses several objects that have some common property. For example:
In mathematics, the concept "group" reflects the property of being able to combine two objects of a certain class to arrive at another. But there are different kinds of objects: the symmetries of geometric figures, the additive structure of numbers, etc.
In geometry, an abstract, non-concrete triangle reflects the properties of the class of closed geometric objects with three sides, but without any particular size or shape.
Mathematical concepts such as numbers, sets, and functions, as well as the geometric concepts of point, line, and plane are also abstractions because they each share some common property.
Reification
Reify) −from Latin res (thing or substance) and facere (to make)− is a term used in philosophy meaning "to turn something into a thing" or "to conceive something as a thing" or "to conceive something by analogy with the nature or structure of a thing" or "to turn an abstract idea into a concrete thing."
Normally, reification is a process of transformation or conversion of an abstract mental content (an idea or a concept) into something concrete and independent, into something that can be represented and manipulated, with the same status as an ordinary object. Also processes, activities and dynamic relations can be reified, converted also into objects, which can be treated as if they were static elements. In this sense, reification is the opposite process of abstraction. Abstraction is bottom-up. Reification is descending. Abstraction and reification would be, in this sense, the two poles of the understanding of the world.
Interpretations of the concept of reification
Due to the somewhat ambiguous and generic definition of reification, there have been different interpretations, philosophical, psychological, sociological and even religious, depending on the context or domain in which the term is used.
Psychology.
Reification is the process of recognizing something, at first unknown, in a category or in something known. Examples: 1) When we recognize a person, a process of reification occurs; 2) If we have the concept of "square" (an abstraction) and are presented with an object in this shape, a process of reification occurs, i.e., the creation of a concrete mental representation in the mind associated with that concept.
The recognition process usually goes through several phases and in a top-down manner: from the general to the particular. For example, we first recognize that it is a person, and then we recognize it as a particular person.
Linguistics.
Reification is the process of linguistic recognition, the creation or activation of mental contents as a consequence of linguistic perception. This recognition is the reflection of universal or philosophical categories in language. According to Quine, everything we grant existence is a result of a linguistic process of reification.
Reification in language also manifests itself in rhetorical figures of speech such as metaphors, metonymies, personifications, and nominalizations. A metaphor is a way of conceiving of something in terms of another known concept (e.g., "my father is a well of wisdom"). A metonymy is to designate one thing with the name of another, making use of some semantic relationship between the two (e.g. "I have had a sherry"). A personification is to attribute properties of the rational being to irrational beings, to inanimate, incorporeal or abstract things (e.g. "mother nature"). A nominalization consists of converting a verb into a noun by adding a suffix to the verb (e.g., bounce-bounce, land-landing, calculate-calculator, etc.).
When we assign a name to something unknown we are reifying it, albeit at a primary level.
Symbology.
Reification is the conversion of ideas into symbols. For example, in the case of certain religions, symbols may be more important than ideas. Another example is a mandala as a reification of consciousness, unity or wholeness.
Metaphysics.
Reification is the manifestation in the world of higher, cosmic or divine laws.
For Platonic realism, all concepts are real entities existing in an independent higher dimension or realm. A concept is reified when it incorporates or reflects in man's mind something that already exists previously in that higher dimension. Platonic philosophy reified concepts.
Epistemology.
Reification is a paradigm, a way of looking at the world. For example, paradigms of a social type have acquired such power by their social implantation that they have themselves become powerful and independent, so that they govern human existence, restricting or depriving it of freedom. Examples of reified entities are the market (which governs economic life) and the bureaucracy (which governs administrative life).
According to Anna Sfard [1991], reification is a sudden ability to see something familiar in a totally new light, and where an instant qualitative leap occurs.
Marxism.
According to Marxism, reification is to consider human activities and social relations as praxis, as mere exchange between objects (or commodities). This implies that objects and subjects are made equivalent. This produces alienation of the human condition and of the fruits of labor. By reifying them, the man who produces them is also reified.
Gestalt psychology.
Reification is the visual recognition of figures as complete forms rather than as elements or partial forms. The human mind always seeks the known in order to reify the unknown or partially manifested. [see image below].
A gestalt image
It may happen that a gestalt image can be interpreted in several ways. In each case, the consciousness "collapses" each time into one image among the possible images. [see below the image of Rubin's vase].
Rubin Vase
Science.
Reification is a construct. A construct is a theoretical development corresponding to an entity that is difficult to define, known to exist but not directly observable, that is used to elaborate a scientific theory. For example, in psychology, consciousness, intelligence, motivation and creativity; in physics, for example, the center of gravity. The degree of acceptance of a construct depends on its usefulness in scientific theory, especially its predictive character.
Characteristics of reification
Genericity.
Reification is a general concept, applicable to all domains.
Simplicity or reduction of complexity.
Reification is a practical way of accessing something complex to make it more manageable, in line with other things already known. When something is reified it becomes simpler to understand and manipulate.
Higher-order reifications.
There may be reifications of reifications.
The fallacy of reification.
The fallacy of reification is the error of treating as concrete or real something that is not, that only an abstract idea or metaphor. An example is confusing a model with reality. A model is only a mental abstraction that helps to understand a phenomenon or system. "The map is not the territory" (Korzybski).
Another example is the following reasoning: "Justice is blind. Judges represent justice. Therefore, judges must be blind."
Reification in computer science
In computer science, reification is the process by which an abstract idea is converted into a data structure or code of a programming language or into an object containing both elements (data and code). Through reification, something that was implicit or inexpressible is explicitly formulated in a descriptive or operational form. Examples:
Specification.
The reification of a formal specification is its transformation into code of a programming language. It is the top-down conceptual modeling, from the conceptual to the detailed programming.
Data.
Data reification is a concrete representation of that data by abstract data types. An abstract data type is a set of operations that allow a set of data to be indirectly accessed and manipulated.
Programming language.
A programming language is reified from a number of concepts. For example, Lisp was reified from the abstract concept of lambda functions. In turn, a programming language is reified into machine code (in zeros and ones) and then into electrical signals.
In turn, a language can be reified as an interpreter of that language. For example, the Perl language reified as the Perl interpreter.
Relationships.
A relation is reified as an explicit entity that is open to updates. For example, the RDF data model (Resource Description Framework) uses expressions of the type "subject-predicate-object", where "subject" indicates a resource, "predicate" indicates a property of the resource, and "value" indicates the value of the property. For example, in the sentence "the sky is blue", "sky" is the subject, "color" is the predicate, and "blue" is the value of the predicate.
A n-ary relation can be reified as several simpler binary relations.
Knowledge.
Knowledge is reified using a knowledge representation language. For example, OWL (a W3C standard) is a language for representing ontologies. An ontology is a set of concepts and relationships between them to model, ground, describe and represent the knowledge of a domain.
Intelligence.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a reification of intelligence. AI languages (such as Lisp and Prolog) allow the knowledge of an expert in a given domain to be represented.
In the specific context of programming languages, reification is a process by which any aspect related to programming can be expressed in a programming language. Reification is making an abstraction available at runtime. The more aspects a programming language can reify, the more powerful and flexible it is. For example:
Program.
A computer program is reified as data. For example, in Lisp the list structure is used for instructions, which can be treated as data.
Process.
A process is reified (or manifested) as an object, which is the result of that process. The result could be another process.
Computer memory.
A programming language reifies computer memory structure when it possesses resources for referring to low-level detail of memory addressing, detail that is available for direct manipulation by other language constructs. For example, the C and Scheme languages.
Function.
A programming language can reify the concept of function and its application. For example, functional languages based on the lambda calculus reify the concept of function (with parameters) and function application (with arguments) by means of lambda expressions.
Language interpreter.
A programming language reifies an interpreter when it has an evaluation function. For example, languages such as Lisp, JavaScript, and Curl provide an eval or evaluate function to evaluate (compute) an expression.
Data types.
A data type is reified as a value. Reified types can be treated as if they were data. For example, in Java there are types that are available at runtime (they are reifiable types); others are not.
Variables.
When we assign a value to a variable, we are reifying (instantiating) the variable. If the variable does not have an associated value it remains a mere abstraction.
A variable can itself be a data of a higher-order variable. For example, in the Mumps language there is a mechanism called "indirection", which consists of considering the result of evaluating a variable as another variable.
Files.
A file can be reified as a variable. For example, in Mumps, data is stored in local or global variables. Local variables are temporary. Global variables are equivalent to traditional files.
Continuations.
A continuation is a sequence (or stack) of calls that can be reified by a programming language. For example, the Scheme programming language reifies continuations.
Reflections.
A reflection is not a particular reification but a type of reification. It is a generic concept, like reification. There can be reflection of data, of variables, of functions, of rules, and so on. According to Tim Berners-Lee, "Reification in this context means the expression of something in a language using the language to make it tractable by the language."
Abstraction and Reification in MENTAL
The boundary between abstraction and reification is blurred. The act of mental creation (or construction) of abstract entities can be considered reification. For example, in the field of mathematics education research, Anna Sfard [1994] calls "reification" the "act of creating appropriate abstract entities." That is, for Sfard, the meaning of "turning something into a thing" is retained, only the thing constructed is abstract. According to Sfard [1994], "Reification is, in fact, the birth of a metaphor that manifests itself in a mathematical object and, consequently, deepens our understanding."
Abstract and reified language.
MENTAL is both an abstract and a reified language. It is abstract because its universal semantic primitives are abstract, of the highest level of abstraction. MENTAL is the supreme reification and abstraction of reality and possible worlds. It is to reduce a complex reality to primary concepts.
But the fact of creating or discovering primary archetypes is a reification. MENTAL is a language reified from abstract and universal concepts. An expression (or manifestation) of the primary archetypes would be a reification of order 2. An expression constructed from other expressions would be a reification of order 3, etc.
In MENTAL, abstraction and reification are closely related: there is a direct representation of abstraction as reification. And reification can be considered an instantiation of abstraction. Abstraction and reification are two aspects of the same thing.
Reification and abstraction supreme.
MENTAL is the supreme reification, for no simpler concepts can be found. The primitives of MENTAL are "semantic atoms", universal semantic resources. MENTAL is the reification of the primary universals (the primary archetypes). According to Quine [1980], "logic is the reification of universals". But the real reification of universals is the primary archetypes.
When reifications converge we approach truth and consciousness, from where everything is contemplated as a unity. According to Quine, reification serves to reinforce the connections of truth functions.
Universal reification.
MENTAL is a language of universal reification. In MENTAL, "reify" is equivalent to "express". Everything can be reified or expressed. At the level of domains, it allows to reify mathematics, computer science, logic, etc. At the level of structures, it allows to reify data, variables, procedures, functions, rules, objects, sequences, sets, relations, etc. This facilitates sharing and interrelation between different entities or elements. This reifying capacity of MENTAL implies awareness, simplicity, freedom, flexibility and creativity.
Hypostatization.
Hypostatization is assuming that everything that can be conceived abstractly must exist. In MENTAL, every well-constructed expression describes a mathematical object that is reified and therefore exists. MENTAL is a hypostatized language.
Reflexivity.
MENTAL allows reflexivity of any or all types: data of data (metadata), variables of variables (metavariables), sequences of sequences, sets of sets, functions of functions (metafunctions), rules of rules (meta-rules), objects of objects (metaobjects), etc. In general, expressions of expressions.
MENTAL also allows a special kind of reflexivity, which is introspection: it can "observe" code execution and perform actions depending on certain events, including modification of the code itself.
Consciousness.
MENTAL tries to reify something impossible to reify: consciousness. The maximum possible reification is the primary archetypes or archetypes of consciousness.
The union of process and object.
According to Sfard [1991], in mathematics there is an inherent process-object duality: a mathematical expression can be viewed as an object (or structure) or as a process (operational), where the operational becomes structural. For example, the expression 3(x+5) + 1 can be considered a computational process or the representation of an entity that has that structural pattern.
In MENTAL, every expression is operational, it is evaluated, that is, it is reified. An expression that is self-evaluated is self-reified.
Space and time.
Space is reified as "abstract space": a set of expressions and their relations. Time is reified as "abstract time", associated with sequences.
Others.
MENTAL allows reifying concepts or structures such as quantifiers, logical operators, range, repetition, associativity, etc.
MENTAL allows you to assign a name to any expression, which is a form of reification: a second-order reification.
The reification of concepts by means of expressions
Thanks to the abstraction power of primitives, MENTAL allows you to easily reify abstract concepts, even ambiguous or contradictory ones that previously could not be explicitly defined or represented:
Infinity is defined by a recursive expression, using potential substitution:
(∞ =: ∞+1)
Infinitesimal is defined by the imaginary expression (ε*ε = 0)
The imaginary unit i is operationally defined as
(i^2 = −1)
The existential triad: Ω (everything), θ (nothing) and α (something).
There are two indeterminate expressions that MENTAL reifies: (α =: 0÷0) and (β =: 1÷0).
The following properties are satisfied:
(α*0 = α) (α*α = α)
(β*0 = α) (β*β = β)
(α*β = α)
Moreover, not only is the expression 0÷0 reified, but it is generalized, since α is any expression and not just a number.
Addenda
Reification: politics and philosophy
The term "reification" was born in the 1860's as a synonym for "reification."
The concept of reification has its origin in Marxist philosophy. It appears in the first chapter of Marx's Capital. It was developed mainly by Georg Lukács −inspired by the works of Marx, Max Weber and Georg Simmel − in his essay "Reification and Consciousness of the Proletariat", belonging to his monumental work "History and Class Consciousness" published in 1925. This work introduced a new paradigm, a theory of the Bolshevik revolution that is considered the most important theoretical contribution to Marxism.
For Georg Lukács, reification is the act (or result of the act) of transforming or objectifying human actions (such as labor) and processes (mental or social) into objects, into mere commodities. It is the union of the subjective and the objective. Reification is an attempt to do away with subject-object duality: the proletariat as a subject-object identity. Reification is not a violation of moral principles, but a failure to recognize human rationality.
The Dictionary of Marxist Thought defines reification as:
"The act (or result of the act) of transforming human properties, relations, and actions, into properties, relations, and actions of things produced by man, objects which have become independent (and are imagined as originally independent) of man and govern his own existence. Also, the transformation of human beings into things that do not behave in a human way but according to the laws of the world of things. Reification is a 'special' case of alienation, its most radical and widespread form, characteristic of modern capitalist society."
According to Marxism, capitalism has turned people into things (commodities) by considering the result of labor as something separate from the worker. In capitalism, the exchange of goods is reflected in intersubjective exchange. People and objects acquire as much value as their commercial value. Reification becomes second nature or the only nature. To counter this philosophy it is necessary to rediscover the value of things, beyond their utility.
Lukács' reification refers only to human or social relations. But today reification is a general concept that applies in all fields. It is curious that humanity has passed from deification (to explain phenomena that escaped its comprehension) to reification.
Horkheimer and Adorno −both belonging to the so-called "Frankfort school− affirm that there is a totalizing logic in which method and technique predominate. The Being then splits from reality with the purpose of dominating it, and at the same time distances itself from itself. It assumes that man is superior to nature and therefore must dominate it, have it under his control. But technification engenders slavery, the alienation of man and the reification of people into objects. Capitalist society is heading towards total reification.
These authors elaborated a "Critical Theory" in the 1920-30s, a new critique of reason. It was a challenge to the theory of subject-object identity and to the theory of class consciousness developed by Lukács. Reason must be seen as a critical consciousness and as a subject of history. Marxist theory and rationalism must be renewed through interdisciplinary development and in the philosophical reflection of scientific practice.
For Jürgen Habermas - heir to the Frankfort school tradition - reification is the distortion of the lifeworld, the world composed of culture, society and personality; a distortion of the communicative nature of social interaction; an intersubjective alignment; a colonization of social subsystems over the lifeworld; an increasing differentiation between culture, society and personality.
For Axel Honneth −continuator of the Critical Theory of the Frankfort school and disciple of Habermas− reification is a forgetfulness of nature: of man, of relations with other men and with his environment. This translates into a deformation of our rational faculty. Reification is a pathology of reason in trying to reduce to the condition of a thing something that is not a thing.
Physicalism can be considered a doctrine of reification of reality because it interprets everything that exists as exclusively physical. Idealists, on the other hand, oppose the reification of ideas. For their part, existentialists oppose the reification of human existence.
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