William
Junior Lexiterian
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 95
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 Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 1:30 am
Post subject: Abstractification |
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This word does not appear in Merriam-Webster's on line Unabridged Dictionary. I found it in the May issue of Discover magazine in an article about Doctor Temple Grandin, an expert in animal behavior. Here is a qoute from the article
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Grandin uses an awkward but powerful word to describe the perceptual fog that normal humans live in. She calls it “abstractification.” It means the ability to live in our thoughts, surrounded by “our ideas of things.” “Normal human beings,” she writes, “are abstractified in their sensory perceptions as well as their thoughts.” This is partly what makes us human. But one of the things Grandin worries about is the increasing tendency of humans to live utterly abstractified lives, cut off from tactile participation in the real, physical world. She laments the way schools have dropped classes like wood shop and metal shop and drafting—the kinds of classes that saved her when she was going to school and failing classes like algebra.
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Dr. Grandin is autistic, and much of the article is about the contrast between how "normal" people and autistic people perceive the world. According to Doctor Grandin, animals and autistic people perceive the world in much the same way.
William |
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Slava
Grand Panjandrum
Joined: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 1793
Location: Finger Lakes, NY
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:11 pm
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Though an interesting concept and fine word, 5 years later it still doesn't seem to have made it to mainstream usage. I just took a fun little tour on Wikipedia where each link from abstractification simply led me further down the slope to abstract. I'm thinking it needs an update. Any takers?
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Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own. |
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