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Abstract

In this chapter a discussion about the properties that are intuitively associated to the notion of abstraction are presented. The difficulties encountered in finding a precise definition are explained and motivated. The main views on abstraction include removal from the sensory world, simplification, focusing on salient characteristics of a problem, and changing the level of detail in descriptions.

“To abstract is to distill the essence

from its superficial trappings”

[Goldstone and Barsalou, 1998]

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Chap. 2.

  2. 2.

    See Chap. 3.

  3. 3.

    See Chaps. 2 and 3.

  4. 4.

    Merkwelt is a German word for “way of viewing the world”, “peculiar individual consciousness”.

  5. 5.

    See Chap. 2.

  6. 6.

    See Chap. 2.

  7. 7.

    See Chap. 5 for further discussions.

  8. 8.

    See Chap. 3.

  9. 9.

    See Chap. 10.

  10. 10.

    See Chaps. 5, 6, and 8.

  11. 11.

    See Chap. 6.

  12. 12.

    See Chap. 7.

  13. 13.

    See Chap. 12.

  14. 14.

    See Chap. 10.

  15. 15.

    See Chaps. 5, and 9.

  16. 16.

    See Chap. 12.

  17. 17.

    See Chap. 11.

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Correspondence to Lorenza Saitta .

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Saitta, L., Zucker, JD. (2013). Introduction. In: Abstraction in Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7052-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7052-6_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7052-6

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