Attentional habits divide the world into meaningful figures and neglected ground

Evidence

At a third level, restricted this time to the individual relationship that unites a subject to the object receiving its attention, the processes of individuation are determined by the fact that these objects are the specific matter on which our bodies and spirits are nourished. If it is true that we are what we eat, then we are what we watch and listen to, since, from the hunting grounds of old to today’s supermarkets, what enters our mouth has first of all entered our eyes, nostrils and ears. Attention is individuating to the extent that it chooses what I will be tomorrow by getting entangled in what I see, hear, smell and touch today. The relation of a subject to an object is rooted in mutual individuation: I give myself form (as subject) by distinguishing a figure (object) against the background of the sensory flow by which I am affected. It is the identification of such figures (Gestalt) that defines my identity. The distinction between figure and ground, performed by my attentional habits, divides the material universe between the elect (e-ligere) objects of a world that has become meaningful and the neglected (neg-legere) mass of present things that I am unaware of (but which do not cease to affect me). — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 494

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gives the etymology of ‘election’ (elect/neglect) as a theory of attention’s individuating function.
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that what we neglect still affects us, fused with the etymology of election, is dense and paradigm-organizing for attention theory.
• XREF: connects to: Directed attention does not weaken world-consciousness but relegates the world to ground — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 881; Attention consists in labor that augments our ability to notice the neglected — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 269; Attention is diverse cognitive engagement, not narrow focus — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!: A Manifesto of the…, 496 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Directed attention does not weaken world-consciousness but relegates the world to ground #expands (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 881
• Attention consists in labor that augments our ability to notice the neglected #complicates (0.82) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 269
• Attention is diverse cognitive engagement, not narrow focus #expands (0.75) — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 496