There is ample evidence that object - specific counting systems do precede abstract systems in cultural evolution. (sciencemag.org)
According to Mays, Whitehead's metaphysics is that coherent, logical, and necessary system of general ideas whose model is a purely abstract system of mathematics and formal logic. (religion-online.org)
When a Lutheran and a Catholic each talk of faith, does each define the word by some comprehensive abstract system, or by the complex associations the word has in a great range of shared biblical texts, such as Romans 1 with its talk of faith as that by which we live, I Corinthians 13 with its association of faith with hope and love, and Hebrews 11 with its definition of faith as assurance and conviction? (religion-online.org)