THEORETICAL DEFINITIONS FOR AUXILIARY CONCEPTS OF VARIOUS LEVELS OF ABSTRACTION

Abstract

Theoretical knowledge may contain various levels of abstraction represented by logical constructions from the observed characteristics of objects from the subject area of the theory. The degree of abstractness can be de-scribed by the complexity of the structures obtained from the initial observational terms. Such auxiliary construc-tions are characterized as explicit or implicitdefinitions of theoretical concepts in terms of observational. One of the techniques for constructing such definitions is the operationalization of abstractions by a system of reduction sentences. In this case a theoretical concept is characterized as “open” and plays a role of logical and methodo-logical constraints for expanding the possible connections of the theoretical model with the help of concepts from the domain of intended practical application.