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I am very interested in epistemology, specifically theories of abstraction. Can anyone recommend good reading material on this topic? Some background: I'm a software developer and one of the key problems in my industry, that I have observed, is that writing good software requires good communication and abstraction skills which many developers do not possess. So I am interested in improving the software design/development process by developing an "abstraction oriented" way of looking at software design. |
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"Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" by Ayn Rand contains her breakdown of concept formation, with regards to the processes of abstraction and integration. Continuing on the Objectivist approach, Harry Binswanger has a couple of lectures that elaborate on this method, "Consciousness as Identification" and "Abstractions from Abstractions". His presentation "Perception" is a good addendum to this as well. Greg Salmieri presents an "Outline of Epistemology" as another supplement. Salmieri's lecture is available at the estore of Ayn Rand organization. Hopefully they will add the others there as well. The materials suggested here are from an Objectivist perspective. All three presenters also contrast the distinctively Objectivist approach to this area with both the Intrinsicist and Subjectivist approaches. |
