Another try, after reading some entries in the OED

Generic: General as opposed to specific; aspirin as opposed to Bayer; 
Abstract: Abstract as opposed to concrete; (a*a) + (b*b) = (c*c) "a
squared plus b squared equals c squared" as opposed to 3*3 + 4*4 = 5*5

An abstraction might or might not be discovered by inspection of some
instances, but an abstraction has an internal truth that is completely
independent of whether it is ever instantiated.  However, aspirin is a
name for a collection of instances (with a common property) that has no
existence without those instances.

 ;O)

Bruce B Cox
Manager, Standards Development Division
OCIO/SDMG
571-272-9004


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Kay [mailto:mike@s...] 
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 1:14 PM
To: 'Peter Hunsberger'; Cox, Bruce
Cc: 'Frank Manola'; 'James Fuller'; xml-dev@l...
Subject: RE: [xml-dev] RE: Keep business-process-specific data separate?

> > I won't comment on the success or failure of RDF, but it 
> seems to me 
> > that it's highly abstract, not necessarily highly generic.
> 
> Ok, I'll bite.  What's the difference?  (Seriously...)

Excellent question. I'll hazard an answer.

The class of "everything that moves" is generic (because it embraces
lots of
different kinds of thing), but it's not abstract (because it's a simple
partitioning of all things based on a simple observable property).
Abstraction demands more than dividing objects into categories; it
demands a
creative leap, involving the discovery of new ways of looking at things,
yielding new insights.

I won't defend that distinction to the death, but it's a try...

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/