ABSTRACT
In abstract ideas, factors of reality that are actually of a dependent nature "are given the form of objective independence, although it is realized that this is only a fictitious and not a real form." Abstract concepts are therefore partial concepts, torn from their context. Condillac makes special reference to the different "suppositions" necessary for the construction of Jes abstractions, and calls them "nne maniere artificiellse." Gruppe was thus fully aware of the true nature of the fiction so far as abstract ideas were concerned, though he did not obtain a hearing at the time. Gruppe states the law of fiction in a very general form in these memorable words, U Scientific inquiry is always a regula falsi ; in order to make a start on its problems it must begin with some presupposition and assumption which it then tries to correct and modify."
