Ordinary Things and Their Extraordinary Meanings

<p>The book provides a new look at the everyday relationship between psychological processes and extraordinary aspects of ordinary phenomena. Why should we deal with ordinary things? People’s life is made of everyday practical taken-for-granted things such as driving a car using money listening music etc. When you drive from home to workplace you are migrating between contexts. Is this an empty space you are crossing or the time you spend into the car is something meaningful?</p><p>In psychological terms things have at least three levels of existence a material a symbolic and an affective one. The underlying idea is that the symbolic elaboration of everyday things is characterized by the transcendence of the particular object-sign leading to the creation of more and more complex sign fields. These fields expand according to an inclusive logic up to dialogically and dialectically incorporate opposites (i.e. clean/dirty transparent/opaque hide/show join/divide slow/fast etc.). Even the meaning of “ordinary” and “extraordinary” follow such an inclusive logic: if you give a positive value to ordinary extraordinary is rule-breaking; otherwise if ordinary means trivial extraordinary assumes a positive value. Besides things are cultural artifacts mediating the experience of the world the psychological processes and the construction of mind. Reflecting upon “things” is thus a more meaningful pathway to understand Psyche.</p><p> </p>