CERCLE 1

28 comprehensible than spiritual ones; despite this the upper questions of knowledge are linked to spiritual knowledge. Things impress upon our senses causing sensations that are organised by common sense and recorded in the memory or imagination in the formof images ( phantasmata ). Yet this image remains personal, not universal. What it seeks to do is to reach the universal concepts that make knowledge possible by being valid for all the individuals contained, regardless of their individual differences. This step from the individual to theuniversal isdonevia theprocessofabstraction, which it explainsvia the functionof understanding. Levelsofabstraction first-degreeabstraction :knownas the formalabstraction. It allows us to come into contact with themobile and sensitive matter that forms abstract objects and understand them in a comprehensive way. At this level intelligence understands the essence of the object, its subject matter (with rare exceptions, all things aremade ofmatter). In ancient times this part of the processwas calledPhisica, i.e. physics. second-degree abstraction : known as the abstraction of sensitivematter. Itanalyses thenumber, amountorextentof the object matter; it is imaginary and necessary to understand the functioning of the object. The difference between this level and the first is its immateriality. It is theworld of extension and is resolved throughnumbers, i.e.mathematics. third-degree abstraction : Known as abstraction of all matter, that which is separated from the matter and the numerical value inanobject. This level is about "beingas such", ie, theworldofBeingand realities that arenotmaterial, like the spirit. Arguably this essence takes advantage of thematter and its numerical qualities tomanifest itself and this aspect of the essencecanonlybeunderstood throughmetaphysics. Withregardtoabstractionasanabilitytoreason, itiswhatallows us to separate objects in to different parts and understand the gist of each one. According to JacquesMaritain, understanding the fundamentals of the speculative sciences requires research into the domainof science in its hierarchy anddivisions, which can be differentiated according to the degree of intelligibility (thatwhich canbeunderstood) that objects of knowledgehave in them. Therefore we could redefine it as the action of separating an object’s properties via amental operation that leads us to stop paying attention to theworldwe are sensitive to to focus on a thought. Theprocessofabstraction inart We should start from the idea that any act of representation of the sensitiveworld - object - is an act of formal abstraction. For this reason, even hyper-realists or photographs work with abstraction. Platonic mimesis is not a representation and is therefore abstraction. Let us think once more about Magritte’s Ceci n’est pas unepipe , of course it’snot apipe, but a representationcomposedof a formal abstractionof a real pipe. The first abstractions of representation of the sensitive world were discovered in Paleolithic art with attempts at mimesis of animals in the shelter of cavewalls. A higher level can already be found in theNeolithicwith iconic representations of animal figuresand their interactionwithhumans,geometricshapesand associated groups. Some even say they are representations of extrasensory visions of some of the individualswho possessed such capacity –shamans– and therefore already included the second and third level of abstraction: mathematical and metaphysical. Upon seeing these rock art works in the Lascaux caves in the south of France, Picasso said: ‘we have learnt nothing in 12,000 years’. He was able to see the level of abstraction of these illuminated artists.We can add little in this respect to the processof separating theessenceof t heobjectorconcept - idea , and focussing on it to represent it: http://www.turnerlibros . com/book/los-pintores-de-las-caver nas.html If we follow what we have been t aught within art history , abstraction startswith Kandinsky at the beginning of the 20th century.Aswecansee, this isnottrue,althoughwecansay itwas hewho formalised it as its own entity - or style - and explained it viahiswritings Pointand lineon theplane and On the spiritual inart . However, inessence, abstraction ispresent inall kindsof art.Music, for example, uses theabstract languageof theoctave and is able to transmit concepts and provoke sensations and emotions. Thequestion is, doweneed todifferentiateartbetween realism –figuration–andabstraction? Idon’t think it rightorconvenient, as it isbut a classification lacking inknowledge. Ignorance is so bold that it needs to label things to relieve itself and slide into the comfort that order bring. Art is not like that, it needs the worry of doubt to pass into different worlds, perhaps undoing theuniversals tocreate, other, betterones.█ Estudi peral canal deGravelines (detall)/Estudioparael canal deGravelines (detalle)/A study for thacanal ofGravelines (detail), 1890. GeorgesPierreSeurat. CONTEMPORANI -CONTEMPORÁNEO CONTEMPORARY