This chapter examines the role of the mind (psyche) in the formation of the entities that make up objective mental reality. Critiquing the objectivist position, the author argues that the objects and phenomena of the world are not originally present in it, nor are they simply “discovered” there by people. Rather, they are formed by consciousness through stable mental constructions—concepts—and placed within an anthropomorphic world. An entity is a mental representation of an element of “reality-in-itself,” created by consciousness and regarded by it as something separate from consciousness—as something present either in the world around us or even within the mind (psyche) itself. It is formed through the processing of sensory data by means of their conceptualization, which simplifies the world for the individual. Entities are dependent on both “reality-in-itself” and consciousness. During the formation of both abstract entities and entities that are accessible to perception, only the degree of involvement in this process changes—between the sensory representations of “reality-in-itself,” on the one hand, and imagination, on the other. A new entity becomes real only after it has been verified in practice and accepted by society. The vast majority of entities are not invented by individuals but are instead assimilated by them. These entities were formed by previous generations, designated by words, embedded in culture, and transmitted through language. During the process of socialization, as children acquire language, they come to understand the objective mental reality of their society and adopt with it a set of entities of the world and verbal representations of their relationships and connections. Language functions not only as a means of communication but also as a mechanism for storing and transmitting the entities of objective mental reality—including those that are not accessible to perception and highly abstract.

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Entities of the World That Are Fashioned by Human Consciousness

  • Sergey Ernestovich Polyakov

摘要

This chapter examines the role of the mind (psyche) in the formation of the entities that make up objective mental reality. Critiquing the objectivist position, the author argues that the objects and phenomena of the world are not originally present in it, nor are they simply “discovered” there by people. Rather, they are formed by consciousness through stable mental constructions—concepts—and placed within an anthropomorphic world. An entity is a mental representation of an element of “reality-in-itself,” created by consciousness and regarded by it as something separate from consciousness—as something present either in the world around us or even within the mind (psyche) itself. It is formed through the processing of sensory data by means of their conceptualization, which simplifies the world for the individual. Entities are dependent on both “reality-in-itself” and consciousness. During the formation of both abstract entities and entities that are accessible to perception, only the degree of involvement in this process changes—between the sensory representations of “reality-in-itself,” on the one hand, and imagination, on the other. A new entity becomes real only after it has been verified in practice and accepted by society. The vast majority of entities are not invented by individuals but are instead assimilated by them. These entities were formed by previous generations, designated by words, embedded in culture, and transmitted through language. During the process of socialization, as children acquire language, they come to understand the objective mental reality of their society and adopt with it a set of entities of the world and verbal representations of their relationships and connections. Language functions not only as a means of communication but also as a mechanism for storing and transmitting the entities of objective mental reality—including those that are not accessible to perception and highly abstract.