Earlier chapters stressed the importance of abstraction for thinking, to the extent that thought is only possible through a process of abstraction. The previous chapter suggested that Man and Woman are abstractions. This raises the question of whether such abstractions are only abstractions in thought, some kind of conceptual device akin, perhaps, to Weber's Ideal Types? There are certainly some affinities between these two approaches but there are important disparities as well. Whitehead's culture of thought implies more than just a methodological approach to thinking about reality. He places abstraction at the heart of reality. That is to say, existence is itself a matter of abstraction. It is important that the term “matter” is emphasized here. Whitehead does not view abstraction as predicated on a fuller, more real, substratum of existence of which contemporary items, entities and societies are superficial reflections, representations or epiphenomena. Reality in all its fullness is exemplified and expressed by those things which populate the contemporary world: ‘There is no going behind actual entities to find anything more real’ (PR, 18). The notion of abstraction arises from the process of selection whereby some elements of the past are combined into a novel unity. This selection (or ‘decision’ (PR, 28 and passim)) cannot incorporate all elements of existence; instead, the positive selection of certain elements, their combining, the manner of their combining and the mode of mutual holding together which forms a society constitute a specific rendering of aspects of the world.