
Self, Space, Society
By Grant F. Raynham and Ulrich Gehmann
The relations between Self and space are not an abstract issue, but essential for society. ‘Modernity experienced a transition from community to anonymous society’, the German sociologist Tönnies said at the end of the 19th century already. What about this today? And what about the Self, the single individual unit inside such contexts, and its space? How is life perceived in recent modern conditions, and how does this relate to recent societies? What about Self-conception, the inner eidos of the Self about itself (as addressed in the 4th issue of our journal Urban Eidos, https://urban-eidos.com/)?
Space is not only architectural space, but also the inner space of the Self and the social space that Self is belonging to. Particularly today, such an inner space is influenced by various forces threatening it. In line with this, a Self presupposes an internal consciousness of itself. It is affected by collective consciousness, but this consciousness is in danger of extinction today due to a number of intertwined factors,
The emerging electronic society developed a new kind of architecture, an immaterial and psychological substructure not allowing for true dialogue between the outer world and the individual, the Self. Because…. there is no real connection between the outer world and the inner world of the Self, as the subconscious self leading to the conscious Self is receiving the input of the electronic internet-driven world (the outside world), but is not communicating with the outer world and ‘learning’ from the outer world in a true dialogue
Internet communities: are not true communities, because there is no dialogue between the members and the outer world. But this dialogue is a premise for a true community.
The Self gets input from sources that the Self, yet does not know where they are coming from; then, the Self internalizes that info, but does not create a dialogue with the outer world for a discussion of these inputs. Therefore, there is no dialogue and out of this, a failure of collective consciousness. Because this consciousness needs dialogue.
This also applies to architectural space, that of the city. A city needs places where the citizens can come together to make decisions affecting their common fate and the way they want to live (Spiro Kostof). Can this saying about a Greek democratic polis be applied to the present?
An important question may be if the owners/controllers of electronic internet-driven societies through their desires and power totally affect what is real, and therefore create a world with no reality or a limited reality…an irreal reality?
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