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Objectification

 
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WordNet: objectification
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: the act of representing an abstraction as a physical thing

Meaning #2: a concrete representation of an abstract idea or principle


 
Wikipedia: Objectification
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Objectification is the process by which abstract concepts are treated as if they were concrete things or physical objects. In this sense the term is synonym to reification.

Objectification also commonly refers to the regarding of a person as 'a thing'. For example, sexual objectification refers to the regarding of a person as merely a non-human object, or tool, for sex.

Philosopher Martha Nussbaum[1] has argued that the objectification of something can be determined by the presence of the following factors:

  • Instrumentality - treating as a tool for one's own purposes;
  • Denial of autonomy - treating as if lacking in agency or self-determination;
  • Inertness - treating as if lacking in agency;
  • Ownership - treating as if owned by another;
  • Fungibility - treating as if interchangeable;
  • Violability - treating as if permissible to smash;
  • and the denial of subjectivity - treating as if there is no need to show concern for the 'object's' feelings and experiences.

See also

References

  1. ^ Martha C. Nussbaum, “Objectification”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 24 (4), pp. 279-83



 
 
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Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Objectification" Read more

 

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