Solnyshkov A. Yu. Subjective Reality and Problems of Its Theoretical Modeling

(Moscow University for the Humanities)

Abstract ♦ Subjective reality is usually understood as the equivalent of the objective reality. At the same time, it includes both not fully adequate "copies" of the elements of the objective world and virtual objects generated by the intellect while working with these copies, and with other components of subjective reality. For this reason, subjectively generated components are often erroneously understood as objective facts, and it is in this status that they determine the interactions of social subjects.

One can take into account and neutralise the influence of the subjectivity factor by forming a single "reference system including an observer", which covers the spaces of both a subjective and the external (social) reality. To ensure that the "dimensions" in the subjective and external reality are equivalent, it is advisable to place the "observer" within a subjective reality, and to accept a functional system (after P. K. Anokhin) as its "unit of measurement”. From the point of view of an external observer, this system corresponds to a single act (cycle).

In the functional system, external behavior and the intrapsychic activity are structured identically. The actual need of the subject should be accepted as a reference point to measure this composite reality. The process of the subject interacting with the components of the subjective reality is described in terms that reflect the content of the components of a functional system.

The structure of subjective reality is presented in the form of knowledge (the information incorporated into the memory of the subject and involving what has not been operationalized in his/her activity) and skill (incorporated into memory as a completed activity). Both the former and the latter may act as values, providing motivation for the subject.

The images of people are independent components of subjective mental models of reality. The interaction with these images is handled by the subject, or his/her agent in this reality — his "I"-image. The "I"-image can also represent "defective" or "problematic" acts in the subject’s mind: those failed or unreasonably postponed. The "I"-image interacts with three types of subjectivized images: "YOU" (singular); "YOU" (plural) and "THEY". Each of these types has specific properties which determine the respective rules of interaction. In the subjective mental model, the techniques of interacting with these images are projected onto real interactions with people in society and determine their content and effectiveness. The high culture of human activity in the subjective mental models of reality allows to drastically increase the efficiency of social interactions.

Keywords: subjective reality, subjectivity factor, functional system, single act, understanding, intellectual activity, mental model, operationalization of knowledge.

Solnyshkov Alexey Yurievich, Candidate of Social Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Moscow University for the Humanities. Postal address: B. 3, 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-60-21. E-mail: al_sol@list.ru

Citation: Solnyshkov, A. Yu. (2014) Sub"ektivnaia real'nost' i problemy ee teoreticheskogo modelirovaniia [Subjective Reality and Problems of Its Theoretical Modeling]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 3, pp. 157–166. (In Russ.).

Submission date: 12.05.2014.

RUSSIAN VERSION

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