Part I Attention CHAPTER I THE GIVEN SITUATION IN ATTENTION § I. DESCRIPTION In a 1. THE SUBJECT-OBJECT RELATION. loose and popular manner, the object, as different from the subject is readily recognised. The man who picks up a book to read, the woman who selects goods for a dress, the child who plays with the toy, each, in a vague way, distinguishes an object which exists apart from the self. There may be present no intensive analysis of the nature of such existence, or of the meaning of the relationship, but for the practical purposes of usage and experience, the object, as existing apart from the subject, has a more or less utilitarian or esthetic value. In scientific research and laboratory experimentation a more rigid interpretation of 'object' is made. Close analysis is necessary sharply to define exactly what is 'subject' and what ‘object' in a given situation, and every effort is made to eliminate the personal equation, emotional bias, illusion, or other per VIMU sonal factors. The astronomer limits his field to a portion of the heavens, the botanist busies himself with a bud, a seed, a root fibre, the geologist restricts his activity during a given investigation to some strata, rock formation, or what not, and so with investigators in other lines. Some situation is selected and treated as an object apart from the self. Many situations in the course of an investigation are so considered and made the object of close study. The psychologist differs in nowise from other scientific investigators. In his work he deals with specific situations, and examines, interprets, analyses, and reasons much like scientists in other fields. His point of attack may be different, his interpretation may deal with qualitative or with quantitative aspects differing from those selected by a botanist or a physicist, but his basis is much like theirs. If his work is to have any value, it must be based on situations which have a concrete filling of some kind, on objects which are more or less definite, on situations which, while they are under investigation, must be considered apart from the self which is concerned with the experimentation. The scientific point of view is one which is recognised by the psychologist, but which is seldom held by cultured work |