Whitehead’s Concept Of Misplaced Concreteness

In the two examples of "simple location" and "substance and quality",Whitehead gives the general meaning of the concept of misplaced concreteness.According to Whitehead’s understanding,the concept of misplaced concreteness usually refers to mistaking abstract for reality.However,this understanding of the concept of misplaced concreteness potentially presupposes the opposition between abstraction and reality.Based on this common sense opposition,people will unconsciously expect a real concept opposite to abstract.The fact is that all concepts are only abstract forms in concepts.If only based on the opposition between abstract and reality,people’s understanding of the concept of misplaced concreteness is bound to have problems.In Whitehead,the core of the concept of misplaced concreteness is the opposition between abstraction and reality.Therefore,in order to re-understand the concept of misplaced concreteness,we must examine a series of concepts such as "abstract","reality" and "concrete".In Whitehead’s "extensive abstract method",the essence of "abstract" is only the transformation from form to form.This means that any abstraction can only take place in the conceptual form of thinking,and will not involve the actual field of experience.This is different from the meaning of "abstraction" in previous empiricism.Under the guidance of empiricism,"abstraction" has been considered as a process from empirical reality to conceptual form,that is,it is a conceptualization process from reality to form.Therefore,in Whitehead,abstract realm can never be confused with real realm.Regarding the concept of "concrete",people usually equate "concrete" with "reality".When "concrete" refers to the real characteristics of an actual object,it is equivalent to "reality".However,in completely abstract fields(such as algebra),"concrete" is not equivalent to "reality".It refers to the concretization of thinking in understanding,that is,to explain unknown or more abstract concepts through the directness of known concepts in understanding.In this way,the concept of "concrete" has two meanings: the first meaning refers to the real characteristics that represent the real experience in the real field,that is,the direct comprehension of the real reality by the senses through sensory experience;The second meaning refers to concretizing the abstract form in the abstract field,that is,to illustrate the direct transmission of thinking to abstract understanding through conceptual form.Obviously,in these two meanings,the concept of "concrete" refers to the presentation of directness.According to this concept of "concreteness",the meaning of misplaced concreteness can be understood as the lack of directness.If there is no directness of reality in actual experience,one cannot feel the real object through the senses.Similarly,if there is no directness of understanding in abstract concepts,abstract concepts cannot be understood through thinking.According to this understanding,the application of the concept of misplaced concreteness can be expanded in common sense.