generificationn.
/dʒᵻˌnɛrᵻfᵻˈkeɪʃn/, U.S. /dʒəˌnɛrəfəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ The action or process of making something more widely applicable, or representative of a larger group; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical classification > [noun] > a division, group, or class > process of rising through successive abstraction
generification1852
1852 W. Hamilton Discuss. Philos. & Lit. 640 In that science it constitutes no less than the peculiar formula of the great principle of Specification (and Individualisation), that is the process by which a class (genus or species) is divided into its subject parts,—the counter process, to wit, of Generification.
1864 F. C. Bowen Treat. Logic iv. 74 Generification is the process of rising, through the successive abstraction of Marks, from lower to higher Concepts.
1930 Jrnl. Philos. 27 286 This illustrates classification in that stricter sense which I have called generification, as opposed to specification. For example, from the methods pursued in his mathematical studies, Plato arrives at an ideal of abstract thinking..which he would apply to all fields of knowledge.
1977 New Lit. Hist. 8 478 We lay our thoughts out sequentially and linearize them from right to left, from subject to object, and up and down in generification and specification.
2003 J. Annett in E. Hollnagel Handbk. Cognitive Task Design ii. 32 In these latter cases the theory of knowledge structures is exploited as a means of determining the transfer potential (or ‘generification’) of certain classes of tasks.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1852