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> What is central to philosophy is _abstraction_. From that vantage point it more closely resembles software engineering than any other human activity... That

• kijin 10y ago
  One might say that mathematics is almost pure abstraction, whereas philosophy has a much greater emphasis on going back and forth between abstractions and the real world to fit them together. Ethics and political philosophy have contributed to wars and revolutions, and in turn were shaped by them. Epistemology and metaphysics similarly influenced, and were influenced by, the cultural milieu of their times. A philosophical theory that does not respond to the very real needs and sentiments of its listeners is unlikely to gain acceptance at that time, no matter how elegant or self-consistent it might be. Likewise, in software engineering, you usually don't abstract away in a vacuum. The relationship between entities in your CRUD app must have at least some semblance of the actual things they represent, or your app will become a UX nightmare.