Hodological space

Hodological space (from the Greek word hodos, which means "way") refers to the space of possible movement.[1] Unlike the straight line, this space involves the so-called "preferred paths", which serve as a compromise of different domains that include shortest distance, security, minimal work, and maximum experience.[1]

Background

The German psychologist Kurt Lewin first introduced this concept in the early part of the 20th century. It emerged in his attempt to use mathematical concepts to deal with psychological problems and was based on Albert Einstein's notion of "field space" and mathematics from modern topology theory.[2] Lewin used this measurement system to expand the nonquantitative but mathematical representation of structure and position in psychology so that it includes the dynamic and vectorial aspects of the field.[3] At the time, topology was a new field, "To some degree it is possible to give a general mathematical solution using a kind of space which is defined through the possible paths between points, and which one may call 'hodological space.' Otto Friedrich Bollnow further refined Lewin's notion and described the hodological space as not something that is homogenous nor predetermined since it is extemporaneously expressed as we move through space. [4]

Some authors cite the affinity of hodological space with elements in ancient Greek theater such as the skene structure, which connects onstage and offstage areas; the ekkyklema, a contraption that allowed "inside-out" disclosures; and, the eisodoi, which lead to and from the distance.[5]

According to Gilles Deleuze, the hodological space concretely holds the sensory-motor schema as the field of forces, oppositions, and tensions are resolved according to their goals.[6]

Concept

A penetrable space can be perceived in two different ways: navigable and navigated.[4] The navigated perception is realized by the hodological space while the former by ambient space.[4] According to this conceptualization, we do not move within a hodological space but that it is created once we move through an ambient space.[4] The space is interpreted as "lived" and is distinguished from the Euclidean space, which is considered "represented". It is, thus, analogous to "seeing an object and making the hodological leap from this actuality to its virtual potentiality of the past in forming the sensory-motor connection."[6]

Hodological space is articulated by a nonquantitative, mathematical analysis that does not necessarily involve the consideration of distance.[7] Here, the distance of points A and B in terms of such space may be different from the distance from B to A. This could happen in certain instances such as when one feels that the distance from home to school is greater or shorter than the distance from school to home.[7]

Hodological space is described as more general than the space of Euclid and Riemann [see metric space], but not as general as topological space, in which it is not possible to define distances or directions."[8] It is noted that Lewin's conceptualization was more mental rather than a physical typology.[6] According to Gilles Deleuze, the hodological space concretely holds the sensory-motor schema as the field of forces, oppositions, and tensions are resolved according to their goals.[6] Drawing from Lewin's idea that hodological space is equated with conscious and planned movement across measurable Euclidean space, he believed that it can be applied to the ability to judge actions in moral terms.[9] Deleuze also put forward the concept of time-image, which transpires prior to hodological space.[10]

Applications

Hodological space can be applied to different fields. For example, in the fields of literature and film, it typifies a narration or a speech that is referred to as "economical" allowing for the simplest route or an appropriate detour.[6] According to Deleuze, hodological space addresses the issue of overlapping perspectives so that a given object can be effectively grasped.[11]

Jean-Paul Sartre also used the concept of hodological space to explain his notion that consciousness is embodied. It is the basis of his argument that the individual is characterized through intentional and goal-directed activity - that goals or valences are positive if agents are drawn to them and negative if they are avoided.[12]

In psychology, hodological space may be used to explain personal causality and the goal of being in a certain state or producing an effect.[13]

References
  1. Pérez-Gómez, Alberto; Parcell, Stephen (1999). Chora 3: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0773517111.
  2. Edling, Christofer; Rydgren, Jens (2011). Sociological Insights of Great Thinkers: Sociology Through Literature, Philosophy, and Science. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-313-38470-7.
  3. Valsiner, Jaan (2011). Thinking in Psychological Science: Ideas and Their Makers. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. p. 259. ISBN 9780765803481.
  4. McMurtrie, Robert James (2017). The Semiotics of Movement in Space. New York: Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 9781138191716.
  5. Rehm, Rush (2009). The Play of Space: Spatial Transformation in Greek Tragedy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 270. ISBN 0691058091.
  6. Batcho, James (2018). Terrence Malick’s Unseeing Cinema: Memory, Time and Audibility. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 69. ISBN 9783319764207.
  7. Weiner, Bernard (1985). Human Motivation. New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 147. ISBN 9781461295600.
  8. Levin, Kurt (1933). "Vectors, cognitive processes, and Mr. Tolman's criticism". Journal of General Psychology. 8 (2): 318–345.
  9. Vhoi, Jinhee; Frey, Mattias (2014). Cine-Ethics: Ethical Dimensions of Film Theory, Practice, and Spectatorship. Oxon: Routledge. p. 65. ISBN 9780415821254.
  10. Deamer, David (2016). Deleuze's Cinema Books: Three Introductions to the Taxonomy of Images. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-4744-0767-0.
  11. Deleuze, Gilles (2005). Cinema II. Translated by Tomlinson, Hugh; Galeta, Robert. A&C Black. p. 125. ISBN 9780826477064.
  12. Gordon, Ḥayim (1999). Dictionary of Existentialism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 93. ISBN 0-313-27404-5.
  13. Heider, F. (2013). The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York: Psychology Press. ISBN 978-1-134-92225-3.


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