34 ORIGIN OF PHYSICAL CONCEPTS 



distinction between general and abstract, singular 

 and concrete terms. 



Language expresses action : the roots of language 

 are expressions of the elementary acts which 

 make up experience. They are therefore general. 

 Each applies to every act of the class in question. 

 They are also concrete. That is so because they 

 refer to exertional activities. Abstract terms are 

 terms abstracted from this dynamic reference. 

 Thus white is concrete because colour is a property 

 of the dynamic world. But when this property is 

 considered apart from its dynamic support it is 

 called whiteness, and becomes abstract. In the 

 case of purely mental qualities the term is re- 

 garded as abstract simply because the quality is 

 in every reference extra dynamic. Thus candour, 

 \ justice are called abstract terms ; they are pro- 

 perties of the Mind. But a property of the dynamic 

 system, e.g. Gravitation, does not strike us as 

 abstract the sole distinction being the dynamic 

 reference which the latter term implies. 



It will even be seen that there is sometimes a 

 shading off of abstract quality. Thus Justice as an 

 attribute of the Mind strikes us as a purely abstract 

 term. But as the word takes up a dynamic refer- 

 ence so does its abstraction diminish. Thus in 

 the expression " Administration of Justice " the 



