Objects

Abstract

Space, which we considered in the previous chapter, is filled with objects, which are either given by nature or have been created and arranged by human beings. The constellation of objects, we have seen, somehow represents a mold of our actions: it determines limitations of actions as well as potential opportunities; objects, we might say, provide an “actionsetting” or “actionscape”. In addition, objects often are either means, or goals, of actions. In this chapter we will, after a look at some general aspects of man-object relationships, mainly consider the polyvalent meanings of objects; the contribution of objects to individual identity will be examined in chapter 8. Objects as “actionscapes”, i.e. their constellational significance, were, as the reader may remember, a topic of the chapter on space (5.1). As to more general questions of object psychology see for instance Baudrillard (1968), Moles (1972), Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton (1981).