Words for abstraction, words for operation

Here are key words and phrases commonly used to highlight the contrast between a philosophical approach (abstract, conceptual, theoretical, reflective) and an operational approach (practical, applied, concrete, implementation-focused). These draw from philosophy, political theory, methodology discussions, and related fields like liberalism debates.

Highlighting the Philosophical Approach

• Abstract / abstraction

• Theoretical / theorizing

• Conceptual / conceptual framework

• Ideal / ideal-type / idealized

• Normative / value-oriented

• Principled / principle-based

• Speculative / reflective

• Foundational / foundational principles

• Visionary / inspirational

• Manifesto-like / declarative

• Big-picture / overarching

• North Star / guiding ideal

• Philosophical defense / justification

• Thought experiment / hypothetical reasoning

• Meta-level / meta-theoretical

Highlighting the Operational Approach

• Concrete / concretization

• Practical / pragmatism / pragmatic

• Applied / application-focused

• Implementation / implementable

• Operational / operationalizable

• Action-oriented / action-focused

• Step-by-step / procedural

• Toolkit / how-to / blueprint

• Policy-oriented / policy design

• Institutional / reform-based

• Executable / hands-on

• Measurable / testable / empirical

• Grounded in reality / context-specific

• Methodological / technique-driven

• Instrumental / cause-and-effect focused

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