Reification

Scientists are sometimes admonished to beware of the human tendency to reify, i.e. to treat our abstract concepts as if they were real entities in the world instead of heuristic devices. For example, the concept "species" is useful for certain purposes, but it makes little sense to imagine that there really is such a thing as a "species" running around in the wilderness. By way of further example, the concept "tribe" is a more or less useful abstraction, but there are no actual "tribes" in the world, only collections of people who can be fitted more or less into the concept.

Reification is doubtless a useful tendency, else it would not have evolved to be so strong in us. It is almost irresistible, and it takes practice and effort to remember that abstractions are products of our own minds that we project onto the world. For most of us, the exercise makes our heads ache. It frightens us to question the validity and reality of concepts that we have lived with all our lives. For example, we believe that we belong to collectives that really exist and signify, and it is difficult to persuade folks to step back and recognize that the collectives are altogether imaginary. We either fear living without the comfort of belonging or fear acknowledging that we have allowed ourselves to base much of our lives on a lie.

Imagine explaining to a person of average intelligence that the State of New York is imaginary.