“Duality of Structure” and “Intentionality” in an Ecological Psychology

“For the pattern is new every moment And every moment is a new shocking Valuation of what we have been.” T. S. Eliot: East Coker. I want to explore below what it is for people to act in ways which are appropriate to their circumstances and how it is that they can do it. Clearly, in one sense, but in a not very well-articulated way, we must already know something of what is involved in such an activity for here we all are in the middle of doing it. We have, however, little explicit idea as to the nature of worlds which allow of such modes of existence, worlds which work in terms of the individuals in them establishing relations of appropriateness or fittingness between themselves, in which the “elements ” comprising them are related meaningfully both to one another and their environments. We badly need a theory of such worlds, a theory in which human phenomena can be seen as arising naturally, as an orderly consequence of the operation of its natural processes. The concept of duality of structure is designed to play an important role in such a theory. It refers to the fact that all human action is doubly structured, for it is structured both as a product and as a process, or better, it is both structured and structuring. And the significance of this is that, when linked to the concept of intentionality, it explains how human action can, in the course of its own performance, provide itself with the conditions for its own continuation. In other words, by acting we can create the conditions for further action. Thus, although all actions may seem to require mediation by an “idea”, “image”, or “representation”, or at least seem to be directed by an inner reference to such entities as indicative of desired end states, the concept of duality of structure suggests something quite different. To be appropriate to its circumstances, an action need not be guided by an inner ’ representation of the ‘outer ’ circumstances in question at all. Due to its ability to produce in its wake, so to speak, a structured context for its [end 19] own continuation, an action can be informed, not so much by factors present in the source from which it issues, as by the context into which it is directed. It is this view which will be developed below.