Human Development
Reflexivity
Description:
The process of thinking is raised to a second level, so that one is not simply thinking about something but thinking about that thinking, not simply self-conscious but conscious of that self-consciousness. This capacity is said to be characteristically human and to be that which enables the development of complex symbolic systems about symbol systems and also the possibility of laughing at one's self. This latter is due to the possibility of exchange between the self which perceives and that which reflects, to Aristotle (among many examples) the divinity within man. Extension of the concept of reflexivity to apply to groups rather than individuals has demonstrated (Victor Turner) that cultural representation in ritual, theatre, games, etc, may be considered plural reflexivity. It is further demonstrated by several authors that the "pattern of patterns" of plural reflexivity is the function of religion, the means by which man interprets the world to himself; and that religion uses systems which are intrinsically reflexive - meditation, contemplation, prayer, confession - to turn from the world to the self.