F. Objects, in fact, are crucial to human existence: as (1) the MEANS to life, (2) the CONTENT of life, and (3) the MEDIUM in which life is lived:
1. As the MEANS to life, Ahrens distinguishes three facets: (a) PHYSICALLY, objects are crucial, obviously, to our very physical existence, comfort, health, security, etc.; (b) MENTALLY, objects are also important to our mind life -- developing our intelligence, knowledge requires access to pens, paper, books, microscopes, computers, etc., etc.; (c) ACTION -- objects are significant to realizing human purposes, whether it be health, industry, communicaions, etc.
2. As the CONTENT of life, our lives are organized about them. And it is through developing and maintaining objects that we become who we are -- how we become teachers, doctors, farmers, mechanics, etc.
3. As the MEDIUM in which life is lived -- the creation of homes, roads, markets, industry has given us a new world (with a new body) in which to live. The development of civilization cannot be thought of apart from the development of objects. Civilization is the electricity, airplans, drugs, roads, etc., etc.
G. So, the development/evolution of society involves action or work with objects. It was not something planned but grew as humans modified their world, developed new objects, and these objects became organized. (At this point Ahrens begins to sketch his view of the development of civilization.)
H. PRIMITIVE society was largely focused on meeting basic survival needs and had little object development to sustain cultural life. But that changed with the development of agriculture, which happened largely by accident, and represented the first major modification of human life. It became the dominant occupation around which social life will increasingly become organized.
I. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
1. At some point this society required a permanent settlement -- Human life became bound up with plant and animal life and identified with a certain land or territory.
2. New objects were developed, especially to facilitate the activities of agriculture -- barns, tools, granaries, fences for animals, the house, etc.. Among these, the HOUSE occupies a crucial place. See first paragraph, p.167, on the house as a central object of agricultural society, and what it made possible.
3. Increased agricultural production, settled pattern of life, naturally led to increase in population. Which, in turn, meant more land needed to be cleared, more homes built.
4. There was also a qualitative change -- suggests move from magic, frightening images of primitive people, to gods with a human character. People began to beseech these gods for help.
5. But it was mainly in its objectification that agricultural life differed. The center of agricultural life shifted outward; life became organized not just around the family but around objects -- farm, fields, livestock.
6. While primitive people lived for the present, agricultural people began to think in terms of a past, and especially of a future -- that corporate or object development made this possible.
7. Order, solidarity, grew out of that stage -- agricultural tasks called for mutual aid -- "Among neighbors, animals were interbred, tools borrowed, objects bartered and exchanged -- all of which constituted the "stuff" of their relations."
8. Tribal feelings gave way to community feelings -- people became known for their village or region.
9. Their language was shaped by the objects, sights, and sounds of their world. Songs and stories celebrated seasons, work, mountains, streams -- objects of significance. Plants and animals figure among agricultural people's most important aesthetic objects; the shade tree or the fields planted by their ancestors take on great meaning.
WORK AND CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT: PART II
A. Even considering all of the above, the object development of agricultural society was rudimentary. They had limited means of power and knowledge to develop much beyond rudimentary objects, certainly by the standard of our modern industrial society.
B. The development of objects of diverse design (often for relgious or military purposes) led to a more specialized craft life, using a range of new materials. At this point, the division of labor becomes more pronounced and we see the beginnings of economic institutionalization and ultimately the city.
1. Work life branched out like a tree -- a process Ahrens calls "INDIVIDUATION." Activities were separate yet interdependent, as if performed by a single person, but many were involved -- eg., the making of a wagon depended not just on the wagon maker, but the tool maker, the iron worker, the lumberman, etc.
C. Whereas the transition from primitive to agricultural may have been accidental, the transition from agricultural to craft was more a "natural growth continuity."
D. "...the development of craft marked a shift of the person's thought and energies from tending plants and animals to object creation. Instead of serving agricultural and biological needs, work activity as object-making liberated itself and assumed a life of its own." (p. 180)
1. The aesthetic motive entered object design, especially in the field of architecture.
E. THE CITY -- Ahrens acknowledges the contradictory evaluations of the city, but there can be no doubt that it represented another significant step in the advance of civilization. See first paragraph, p. 182.
1. What was ultimately responsible for this was CRAFT -- craft involving imagination, skill, knowledge of materials, planning, rational procedure -- it is an activity crucial to the development of objective mind life. Out of this comes systems of writing and measurement.
2. Writing was especially significant, because it served as a new medium of mind continuity -- allows institutional system, the city, society to become objects of reflection. Ultimately leads to the creation of LAW and the STATE -- "The life of custom gave way to law, ... along with the rational formulation of governmental institutions."
a.) Designers of objects became designers of law.
3. So, the city gave rise to political society in which we sought to control human destiny. (All of the above, suggesting a different view of the origin of the state from the "social contract view.")
WORK AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORATE OR ORDERED LIFE: Part III: Outer Organization and the Structure of Modern Society
A. The industrial revolution and the development of machine power to supplement human power, gave rise to modern corporate society -- the highest form of corporate life yet to be achieved.
1. "While family and local institutions exist today, they no longer are the dominant forms of institutional life. We now live our lives essentially in a system of institutions that are national and international in scope." (p. 189)
a.) Life issues in the ends of the great community in which all local communities have been incorporated. Cities become more interdependent. Farmers now produce not just for local markets but for national and international markets.
2. Although this modern physical development has not necessarily given rise to a more moral society or life (indeed, it seems more immoral than moral), Ahrens contends that this outward development has a moral root -- that it increases the person's capacities and powers of action.
3. Ahrens recognizes that among the problems this new corporate society has given rise to is that it has drastically changed the nature of human relations, a point most sociologists emphasize. As Ahrens observes, sociologists talk about the breakdown of "primary relations" and the increasing dominance of "secondary relations." See pp. 196 - top half of 197.
B. A world takes shape which goes beyond cultural differences. Modern industry has laid the foundation for a world community. But "...old cultural and political boundaries remained, often serving as a source of misunderstanding and strife."
1. But Ahrens does NOT suggest that distinct national cultures should be wiped out. Rather, we can build a universal culture above and across it. Problem is you have business and political interests which sought to exploit these differences. (p. 198) (Indeed, the whole move toward globalization of the economy is a logical and welcome development, although I don't believe Ahrens would necessarily endorse the current form it is taking.)
C. Unfortunately, our social and political thinking (which would include sociology, see p. 204, although the human ecologists come closest to Ahrens' view) has not caught up with this corporate reality. We still think in terms of individuals, groups or national interests -- all of which are inadequate to comprehend this corporate development.
D. Finally, Ahrens also acknowledges that the machine is problematic -- it has greatly enhanced our capacities for action, but not always for the good. It eliminated drudgery of much work and freed us to cultivate the mind life.
See all of pp. 202-203, for both the good and bad of the machine.
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That's all folks.
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