Abstract thinking

April 27th, 2024

I was talking to my brother one night about abstract thinking and about how most people seem to not be interested in it. A lot of people just listen to things based on authority or persuasiveness. It seems that critical thinking isn’t the first thing people tend to go to.

We were discussing how to convince people that abstract thinking is valuable, the issue is that you kinda need to use abstract thinking to prove that. My brother suggested having an authority tell or convince people that abstract thinking is valuable, but I don’t know if that would work. We still haven’t figured out a solution to that, but it got me thinking about the subject.

What is abstract thinking?

Note: I am using the term abstract thinking to refer to a specific concept that I have been thinking about. I have no idea if “abstract thinking” has a specific meaning elsewhere. This is my definition for this essay.

Abstract thinking is the process of thinking in the realm of ideas, rather than the realm of facts or decisions. It’s thinking about your own worldview and beliefs; not deciding what you are going to do today. I would say abstract thinking happens at the deepest places in your mind where your other actions flow from. It is the process of examining your core beliefs and deciding whether they are true.

A debate about what to eat for dinner would not be “abstract thinking”, but a debate about what kind of food is the best would be abstract thinking (probably not super important though). Likewise, a debate about which church is better would not be abstract thinking, while a debate about a Christian doctrine (such as predestination) would be. From both of these examples, you can probably see how abstract thinking often shows up in other situations. Even though what to have for dinner isn’t an abstract concept, you might base some of your arguments on your idea of what the best food is.

What is the point?

Abstract thinking starts to approach philosophy (or maybe would be considered philosophy). But it is still very important. You have two options: either think about your core beliefs or accept them blindly. I believe that thinking about them and discussing them is extremely important since they affect everything else that you do.

Another reason that abstract thinking is valuable is that history is shaped by ideas. History especially recent history is shaped by ideas. Human rights, capitalism, democracy and socialism are a few examples. These ideas have had far-reaching effects. Often it is a few people (Adam Smith, Karl Marx, etc.) who promote the idea, and it changes whole societies. Those ideas had far-reaching consequences, and it is important that people in general can analyze ideas in order to help better ones (rather than worse ones) gain popularity.

A few other good reasons for learning and practicing abstract thinking are: 1) You learn to debate ideas rather than people 2) You learn how to be persuasive. 3) You learn how to make sense of the world. 4) It is fun.

Do people tend to use abstract thinking?

I cannot tell. I think it depends a lot on the person and on the topic. I have noticed from reading history and my experiences that it seems to be really easy to persuade (or manipulate; two sides of the same thing) someone into believing something. Especially if you’re willing to be unethical. But sometimes it’s also impossible to convince people of something, so it really depends on the situation. I think people tend to believe what they want to believe, so if you can convince them that they want to believe something then they’ll believe it.

It is also easier to just accept authority. Thinking takes time and sometimes we don’t have time (or want to spend it on other things), so we accept what others tell us. We all do this whether we realize it or not, since it’s impossible to do all the thinking yourself. There’s just too much to think about. We have to rely on authority sometimes, but we have to use wisdom when choosing our authorities and know when to fall back on abstract thinking.

How do you learn abstract thinking?

It’s hard to say. Probably similarily to how you learn a lot of other things: watch others do it and then practice it. The first step of abstract thinking is asking questions. Either to yourself or to other people. Ask yourself why you believe the things you believe, and ask others why they believe what they believe. Sometimes you believe it on authority, which is perfectly fine. Other times you believe based on some argument. Even other times you believe it based on an experience you’ve had. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you question your beliefs, you will be ready to defend them well when others inevitably do.

Another part of abstract thinking is learning the balance between authority and critical thinking. Sometimes the best option is to believe someone wiser than you. Sometimes “doing your own research” isn’t the best option, since you aren’t knowledgeable in the subject. (also “doing your own research” often means substituting one authority for another; your new authority isn’t necessarily better). You also need to know what authorities to choose and when to question an authority using critical thinking skills. Both of those things require wisdom and are not easy.

Conclusion

Abstract thinking is the process of thinking in the realm of ideas, thinking about your beliefs, values, and worldview. It is important since many of your actions flow from your core beliefs. A large part of abstract thinking is asking questions, lots of questions. We shouldn’t be afraid of questions. They help us discover the truth.

We also shouldn’t question endlessly, there is a time and place for authority and we certainly need it. We should strive to use wisdom to decide which things need to be questioned. Too many times I’ve seen people spend all their time and energy questioning the wrong things.

I often feel like there is a lack of abstract thinking, at least in my world. Some of that might be because I’m still in high school, but even when I watch adults and society I don’t see a lot of it.

Lastly, the most important part about all of this is remaining humble. We can and should remain open-minded, realizing that we might be wrong, but at the same time advocating and constantly seeking for the truth. Stand strong, remain humble, and learn new things.