As we shall see in the following pages, Perception is an emergent function of a relationship between Entities referred to as Subject and Object. These terms are familiar to us through language, and just as in the earlier section on linguistics where statement and question were defined in functional terms of Dasein, so too here subject and object find their origins within how Entities relate to one another. The creation of Subject and Object Entities occurs through the relative "strength" of one Entity complex over another, we shall term this Dominance. Dominance On the previous page we saw how Entity complexes can become Activated, and for any given period of time, within Dasein, several Entity complexes may achieve Temporal stability, commonly as a result of the presence in the World of the Things they represent. Take this image for example:  Within Dasein, as these Entity complexes are Activated and stable when we look at the image, if no one complex was Dominant then the picture would lack all "perspective", if the relationships between the Entities were entirely "equal" then one would place as much emphasis on the forna in the background as the lion that takes up most of the scene. So this Dominance that we observe in Dasein is a reflection of the inequality of Entity complexes, a relative "importance" of certain Entities within a given context that is intrinsic to the way in which Dasein processes the World. Thus, we must define what determines the relative Dominance of certain Entities over others. Potentiality-for-Being Within the above picture, the lion has a greater Potentiality-for-Being, as a human instance of Dasein would commonly Interpret, than any other Entity therein. It is a living, active, moving Entity, it is performing an Action within the picture, and one Interprets it shall go on performing Actions after it has finished eating. By contrast, the meat has a low Potentiality-for-Being, one cannot Interpret it as having any Action at all, but rather be subject to Action by other Entities such as the lion, scavengers and bacteria. Thus, the Potentiality-for-Being appears to be a determiner for the Dominance of Entities in this case. To explore the argument, look and consider two related Things in the World around you, for example a dog in bed, a TV and remote control, a cloud in the sky. Ask yourself which is Subject and which is Object, and see if the Subject has a greater Potentiality-for-Being. In clear cut cases, usually involving a living organism, say a child with a toy, the living Thing will invariably win out, since they have by their nature a vastly greater Potentiality-for-Being than inanimate Things. But two non-living Things can be more ambiguous, perhaps the point where no clear Dominance can be established. One might enumerate the Potentialities-for-Being that come to mind, the book has, say ten common Potentialities whereas the table has seven; of course Dasein does not make such a quantitative judgement but as an observer to the process we might do so to try to see if such a balance is employed on a qualitative level within Dasein. If in doubt, though, one need only to construct a sentence that comes naturally; "the book is on the table." hence one concludes that one's Dasein considers the book Dominant. One could construct, "the table supports the book." but this, in English, "feels" like a forced perspective in an everyday consideration. Casual observation both lends support to the notion of Dominance established by greater Potentiality-for-Being, but also indicates the interplay of other factors. Interpretative Dominance Material Dominance Mechanism of Dominance  Summary << Previous Next >> Created 28th July 2009 Revised 28th July 2009 |