zaterdag 1 september 2007

Objectification and De-objectification

The left side of the arc shows Objectification, the taking of distinct form, while the right side shows De-objectification, i.e. adding of value to the "object". In economic terms, valuing has to do with pricing, or money. In psychological terms, there's a range of values, especially on the social level (value judgments, norms), beliefs, etc. On the more abstract level there's aesthetic judgment and (internalized) moral values.


This passage from objectification to  de-objectification is pretty well established in many quarters, including economy (as in adding value and price),  esoteric teaching, and also in such theories as Leontiev's activity theory. See links


http://www.comnet.ca/%7Epballan/AT2.htm


http://www.comnet.ca/%7Epballan/AT.htm


http://www.comnet.ca/%7Epballan/Mentevol.htm


http://www.comnet.ca/%7Epballan/functionalism.htm


I did not convert to dialectical materialism, the thing is simply this: every research angle can yield some useful points of view, elements in the big mosaic of life. It's like the seven blind people touching the elephant in the parable. They each report a different structure of the elephant and couldn't understand each other. They fiercely disagreed as to how the elephant looked like. Yet, they all reported correctly about a small part of reality. So, look at the world from different angles and try to integrate different points of view, as far as is possible, logically and philosophically speaking.