abstracta

Abstracta is the plural of abstractum in Latin and is used in philosophy to designate abstract objects or abstract entities. Abstracta are typically considered non-spatial, non-material, and causally inert, existing independently of particular objects in the world only in the sense posited by various theories. They contrast with concreta, the kinds of things that occupy space and time and can interact with one another.

Common examples given by philosophers include numbers, sets, properties, relations, propositions, and mathematical objects. Some accounts extend abstracta to universals, types, possible worlds, and other entities that do not themselves occupy space or have causal powers.

The main philosophical issue surrounding abstracta is their ontological status. Platonists or mathematical realists usually hold that abstracta exist independently of minds and language. Nominalists, fictionalists, and some structuralists deny or minimize their existence, treating abstracta as linguistic constructs, social agreements, or sets of useful fictions. Other positions hold that abstracta depend on human thought, language, or practices, while still serving as indispensable tools in science and mathematics.

The term abstracta is common in discussions of metaphysics, the philosophy of mathematics, and logic. In English-language philosophy, "abstract objects" is the standard rendering, but "abstracta" appears in some analytic discussions and historical texts as the Latin plural form.