virtualization of design and production a thesis - Bilkent University

“The entire problematic of subjects and objects in modern
western thought is conventionally traced to Descartes’ cogito,
which sees the world in terms of, on the one hand, human
subjects (a mind or consciousness which thinks, knows,
believes and ascribes meanings and values to the world) and,
on the other hand objects (the world seen as ‘matter in motion’,
as a collection of things which interact, which can be observed
and grasped in the form of facts, but which are in and of
themselves devoid of subjectivity, of mind and spirit, of
meaning or essence)” (Slater 101).
However influential this view of Descartes, in the contemporary consumption
culture of the time, it will be reductionism to say that the objects around us
express no meaning for the subjects around them. It is true that they have no
essence and meanings within themselves and these values are only attached to
them due to the needs, desires or psychic motives of subjects but on the other
hand subjects are not simply using objects but they rather prefer to express
themselves through them, transforming their own needs and desires via the
object. Therefore, objects are perceived more and more as material subjectivity
that is not entirely external but rather complementary for the subjects.
“[…] humans do not simply transform or use objects according
to their self-defined needs. Rather, the world they have made is
indeed objective and becomes the new environment in which
they live, by which their subjective experiences are formed and
constrained and in which they define and refine their needs,
desires, projects and plans. […] In transforming the world, we
transform ourselves” (Slater 103).
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