“The notion that a society could be regulated entirely by market forces is a utopian fantasy: an impossible dream generated by imagining what the world would be like if everyone's behavior was utterly consistent with some abstract moral ideal-in this case, economic theories that assume all human action is based on calculating, systematic, (but scrupulously law-abiding), greed.” IfsWorldHumansDreamWould BeActionLawForceMoralCasesFantasyImpossibleEconomicTheoryBehaviorIdealsAssumingNotionGreedLibertarianAbstractConsistentAbidingSystematicUtopianCalculatingHuman ActionsEconomic TheoryImpossible Dream Author:David Graeber
“Do not talk to me of goodness, of abstract justice, of nature law. Necessity is the highest law, public welfare is the highest justice.” LawPoliticsJusticePowerGoodnessHighestWelfareAbstractTalk To MePublic Welfare Author:Napoleon Bonaparte
“Modern transcendental idealism, Emersonianism, for instance, also seems to let God evaporate into abstract Ideality. Not a deity in concreto, not a superhuman person, but the immanent divinity in things, the essentially spiritual structure of the universe, is the object of the transcendentalist cult. In that address of the graduating class at Divinity College in 1838 which made Emerson famous, the frank expression of this worship of mere abstract laws was what made the scandal of the performance.” PersonsMadeSeemsSpiritualLawUniverseClassModernObjectsCollegeExpressionLetting GoWorshipPerformancesStructureMereInstanceAbstractDivinityAddressesGraduatesFrankIdealismCultScandalDeitiesTranscendentalSuperhumanGraduating Class Author:William James
“The soaring, imaginative minds of men, constructing lofty, shimmering piles of abstract thought, and taking as their postulate a revelation from God, gaveus relgions which coule not possible maintained without belief and obedience: ... we find them most permanent and changeless among people who make the least effort to swquare their beliefs with the laws of life.” PeopleMenMindLawBeliefEffortAtheismPositive AtheismObediencePermanentAbstractRevelationsSoarImaginativeLoftyLaws Of Life Author:Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“I think that metaphor really is a key to explaining thought and language. The human mind comes equipped with an ability to penetrate the cladding of sensory appearance and discern the abstract construction underneath - not always on demand, and not infallibly, but often enough and insightfully enough to shape the human condition. Our powers of analogy allow us to apply ancient neural structures to newfound subject matter, to discover hidden laws and systems in nature, and not least, to amplify the expressive power of language itself.” ThinkingMindHumansMatterEnoughLawLanguageAbilityConditionsSubjectsKeysShapesDemandStructureAncientMetaphorAppearanceAbstractHuman MindConstructionHuman ConditionExplainingPenetrateSubject MatterAnalogiesSensoryExpressiveAmplifyPower Of Language Book:The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature Source: The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature
“Seurat and Signac mixed paintings with the dry and abstract laws of science. This approach, in my opinion, usually strays from the purpose of art in general. Because it means that one cannot expect from an artifact, that is created with mathematical laws, to establish an improbable and irrational relationship between the work and the viewer.” MeanArtLawPurposeOpinionPaintingApproachMathematicalAbstractDryIrrationalViewersImprobableArtifactsPurpose Of Art Author:Guity Novin
“The law is not abstract, impartially arbitrating between conflicting social classes; it is a tool in the hands of those who govern.” HandsLawSocialClassToolsAbstractSocial Class Author:Josephine Herbst
“Men agree that justice in the abstract is proportion, but they differ in that some think that if they are equal in any respect they are equal absolutely, others that if they are unequal in any respect they should be unequal in all. The only stable principle of government is equality according to proportion, and for every man to enjoy his own.” IfsThinkingMenShouldGovernmentLawEnjoyJusticePrinciplesEqualAgreeEvery ManAbstractProportionStable Author:Aristotle