Abstrakcja od konkretu? Rola abstrakcji w myśleniu socjologicznym

The article’s main aim is to analyse the sources of the opposition between the notions of abstraction and the concrete, widespread in common thinking, and the assumption that each abstraction is secondary to empirical (concrete) reality. The authors call these concepts “abstraction from the concrete”. The article consists of a historical introduction pointing to the potential sources of the above prejudice and a critical reconstruction of the pattern of thinking regarding the ladder of abstraction metaphor, based on the example of the work of Richard Swedberg. In its final section, The last part of the paper focuses on interpretation and analysis of the consequences of the author’s main argument and the definition of abstraction he proposes in light of Alfred Korzybski’s general semantics and Alfred N. Whitehead’s philosophy of science.