The environment, which together with the subject constitutes psychic reality, is a model. It is neither identical with independent reality nor a copy of it. The psyche constructs the environment from knowledge generated by the psychic functions.
One of the fundamental elements of this model is the object.
To clarify the concepts of object, state, action, interaction, behaviour, and process, it is useful to draw on the formal language of RM-ODP (Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing). These concepts were developed for describing systems, but they form a sufficiently general modelling framework to be used for describing the structure of the environment as a model.
Object
In RM-ODP, an object is defined as a model of an entity.
This definition is important: the object belongs to the model. It is not identified with that which exists independently of the model and is modelled by it.
Within the model of consciousness, an object can be defined as an element of the environment represented in psychic reality as preserving its identity over time.
An object is characterised by its state and behaviour.
An object, however, is not something static. Its state may change, it may participate in actions, and it may interact with other objects. The preservation of an object’s identity does not mean that all of its characteristics remain unchanged.
On the contrary, an object is perceived simultaneously as something that remains the same in some respects and changes in others.
State of an Object
A state characterises an object at a particular point in time.
The same object may be in different states without ceasing to be perceived as the same object.
For example, a door may be open or closed; a person may be at one location and later at another; water may be cold or hot.
A change of state does not in itself destroy the identity of the object.
Thus, the very concept of state already presupposes a distinction between what is preserved and what changes.
Action
RM-ODP defines an action in very general terms: an action is something that happens.
An action is associated with at least one object and takes place in time. Actions may cause changes in the states of objects.
For example:
- a person walks;
- a door opens;
- a stone falls;
- water is heated.
An action cannot be perceived as an action at a single isolated point in time. In order to know what is happening, what occurs must be perceived over some interval of time.
An action, however, does not consist solely of changes.
When a person walks, the position of the body changes, the positions of the arms and legs change, and the person’s relations to surrounding objects change. At the same time, something remains invariant: the identity of the acting object, a certain organisation of the movement, and relations between successive phases of the action.
If only changes were perceived, it would be impossible to unite them into a single action. If only what remains invariant were perceived, it would be impossible to know what is happening.
Knowledge of an action therefore includes both knowledge of changes and knowledge of invariants.
Interaction
When an action is associated with several objects, it may constitute an interaction.
In an interaction, objects act upon one another, and their states may change.
An interaction is therefore also perceived in time and contains both invariant and changing relations.
Behaviour
In RM-ODP, the behaviour of an object is associated with the collection of actions in which the object may participate and with constraints on when those actions may occur.
The concept of behaviour is therefore broader than that of an individual action. It describes an object through possible and occurring actions and through the relations among them.
Behaviour cannot be defined solely in terms of change. For different actions to be attributed to the behaviour of the same object, the identity of the object and certain relations among its actions must be preserved.
Process
A process is an organised sequence of actions in time.
Like an individual action, a process has both changing and invariant characteristics.
New states arise and changes occur within a process. At the same time, some structure must be preserved, allowing the sequence of what happens to be perceived as one process rather than as a collection of unrelated events.
The distinction between invariants and changes is therefore necessary not only for the perception of objects, but also for the perception of actions, interactions, and processes.
Object and Time
An object is perceived in time.
This proposition is fundamental to understanding the irrational functions.
An invariant cannot be established at a single point in time. For something to be perceived as remaining invariant, its preservation must be perceived over some interval of time.
A change likewise cannot be established outside time. To perceive a change, it is necessary to perceive a difference between what was and what has become.
Thus, both the perception of invariants and the perception of changes are forms of perception in time.
Temporality manifests itself in two complementary ways:
preservation over time — invariant;
transformation over time — change.
This applies both to objects and to actions.
Two Irrational Functions
The two irrational functions generate two complementary kinds of knowledge about the environment.
Perception of invariants (S) generates knowledge of what is preserved over a certain interval of time.
Perception of changes (N) generates knowledge of what changes over a certain interval of time.
Both functions generate knowledge about objects as well as about actions.
With regard to an object, S generates knowledge of what remains invariant, while N generates knowledge of what changes.
The same applies to an action. S generates knowledge of the invariants of an action, while N generates knowledge of the changes occurring in the course of that action.
S therefore cannot be equated with object and N with action. Nor can S be equated with state and N with change of state. Objects, states, actions, interactions, and processes may all contain both invariants and changes.
The distinction between S and N lies elsewhere: between preservation and change over time.
Two Complementary Kinds of Knowledge
Knowledge solely of invariants or solely of changes does not provide an integral knowledge of an object or action.
If only what changes is known, it is impossible to establish what is changing and what connects successive changes to one another.
If only what remains invariant is known, it is impossible to establish what is happening.
Knowledge of the environment therefore requires two complementary kinds of knowledge:
knowledge of invariants + knowledge of changes.
This does not mean exhaustive knowledge of every characteristic of an object. Completeness is meant here in another sense: an object or action must be represented as existing in time — as remaining invariant in some respects while changing in others.
Together, the irrational functions provide precisely these two aspects of knowledge.
Abstraction and the Construction of an Object
The concept of an object is connected with the concept of abstraction.
In RM-ODP, abstraction means suppressing details that are not relevant to a particular purpose of modelling. An object, as a model of an entity, therefore neither needs nor is able to reproduce everything that belongs to the entity being modelled.
This is particularly important for the model of consciousness.
The environment is not a copy of independent reality. The objects of psychic reality are constructed on the basis of knowledge generated by the psychic functions. Not every possible content becomes part of a particular model of an object.
An object exists in psychic reality as a result of modelling.
It is therefore necessary to distinguish between:
independent reality — that which exists independently of the psyche;
the effects of independent reality on the organism;
knowledge generated by the psychic functions;
objects of the environment as elements of psychic reality.
This distinction prevents us from attributing to independent reality a structure that belongs to the model constructed by the psyche.
The Object as an Element of the Environment
Psychic reality consists of the fundamental dichotomy “subject — environment.”
The object belongs to the environment side of this dichotomy.
Objects have states and participate in actions and interactions; actions unfold in time and may change the states of objects; sequences and systems of actions form more complex structures of behaviour and processes.
Knowledge of all this, however, becomes possible through the distinction between two aspects of temporality — preservation and change.
An object therefore cannot be defined solely through a set of its properties at a particular point in time. The object of psychic reality is an object in time.
It is in time that its identity with itself becomes apparent. It is in time that its changes occur. It is in time that actions take place.
And the two irrational functions generate knowledge of these two complementary aspects of the existence of the environment:
S — knowledge of what is preserved;
N — knowledge of what changes.