Mental Moves #4: Attachance and Creative Dialogue

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CALL4

14 min readMay 22, 2023

Moves between two large thematic spaces

This post is part of the Mental Moves knowledge project that aims to collect related articles about the concept of “Attachance” and more examples about “Moving between Thematic Spaces” in order to edit a book. You can find more details in the following links:

March 4, 2023 — Creative Action: The Chance-configuration Theory and Beyond
March 8, 2023 — Creative Action: The Attachance of Moving Mental Elements
March 10, 2023 — [Knowledge Engagement] How to develop a concept called “Attachance”?
March 10, 2023 — #TalkThree 19: The Art of Semantic Awareness
March 23, 2023 — The Knowledge Engagement Framework (v4)
March 24, 2023 — TALE: A Possible Theme called “Mental Moves”
March 24, 2023 — The Concept of Attachance (A list of articles)
March 30, 2023 — Mental Moves #1: The Transformation of Mental Elements
April 27, 2023 — Creative Swapping of Mental Elements
April 29, 2023 — The “Mental Moves” Knowledge Project (Digital Board)
April 27, 2023 — Mental Moves #2: Creative Swapping of Mental Elements
May 2, 2023 — Mental Moves #3: Attachance, Thematic Space, and Framework

I coined the term Attachance by combining Attach and Chance in 2018 to discuss some ideas related to Affordance, a core idea of Ecological Psychology.

In 2022, the development of Attachance was tied to the development of Thematic Space which refers to a specific type of container: cognitive container. You can find more details in [Slow Cognition] The Development of the concept of “Thematic Spaces”.

On March 10, 2023, I wrote a short post about the development of “Attachance” on Linkedin. On March 24, 2023, I collected a set of articles about the concept of “Attachance” and “Moving between Thematic Spaces”.

The Concept of Attachance (A list of articles)

I coined the term Attachance by combining Attach and Chance in 2018 to discuss some ideas related to Affordance, a core…

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I also launched a board for the Mental Moves knowledge project on Milanote.

I adopted Dean Keith Simonton’s Chance-configuration theory as the foundation and expanded his theory to a new model. You can find the basic model here.

On May 15, 2023, I finished a “Creative Life Curation” project which is about my journey of engaging with Ping-keung Lui’s theoretical sociology from April 2022 to April 2023.

In April 2022, I started reading a book titled The Scientific Project of Sociology (Ping-keung Lui, 2010) which is the second series of lectures on sociology-philosophy, taught in a course for MA(Part-time) students at the Department of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Fall 2010. Its original title was “The Philosophers, the Sociologists, and the Scientific Project of Sociology”.

Ping-keung Lui aims to build a brand new theoretical sociology as a candidate for the paradigm of sociology. According to Lui, “There are three kinds of theories in sociology, namely, social theory, sociological theory, and theoretical sociology. ”

Social theories are speculations about the social world. They constitute the speculative project of sociology.
Some social theories are amenable to positivistic investigation under certain specific conditions. I call them sociological theories.
Also, some other social theories, being very ambitious, attempt to recruit as many as they can sociological theories supporting themselves. I call them theoretical sociologies. They compete against each other. The winner becomes the paradigm of sociology, and its supporting sociological theories become exemplars of the paradigm. In this way, theoretical sociologies and sociological theories constitute the scientific project of sociology.

During the past 12 months, I read Ping-keung Lui’s papers and books and adopted his ideas to curate my knowledge frameworks for the Aspects of Creative Life project.

From Jan 2023 to April 2023, I read his 2017 book Gaze, Actions, and the Social World and wrote 228-page notes. I reflected on the following three projects while replaying Lui’s theory development journey.

The Knowledge Engagement Project
The Creative Life Framework
The Theme of “Value Circle”

I also developed several new frameworks which form the Creative Life Theory (v2.0).

I also learned the unique sociological semiotic diagramming method and used it to develop Creative Life Theory.

This is a wonderful knowledge journey!

The final outcome of the “Creative Life Curation” project is a 65-page thesis with several cast studies. The attached diagram represents one case that is about adopting ideas from Lui’s theoretical sociology and using it to develop Creative Life Theory.

This article uses this case study for the Mental Moves project.

Why do I use “Attachance and Creative Dialogue: The ECHO Way to Creative Work Study” as the title of this article?

See the diagram below.

The above two diagrams share the same meta-diagram called WXMY.

The Knowledge Curation Toolkit #2: WXMY for Interdisciplinary Curation

The advanced version of Theme U

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The above link is an introduction to the “WXMY” meta-diagram. Though it discusses several details of the spatial structure of the diagram, it doesn’t mention the “Creative Dialogue” method and the “Host-Guest” mode.

On Sept 22, 2022, I wrote an article titled The “Activity — Opportunity” Thematic Dialogue and developed a framework for Creative Thematic Dialogue.

Move from “Theory” to “Thematic Space”
Move from “User” to “Maker”
Switch between Host and Guest
Second-wave Development
Close A Thematic Dialogue

In the article, I used the “WXMY” meta-diagram as the primary diagram and made several case studies.

Now we can apply the “WXMY” meta-diagram to understand my journey of engaging with Theoretical Sociology.

Engaging with Theoretical Sociology

One year ago, I contacted Ping-keung Lui who is a theoretical sociologist.

During the process of reading his book The Scientific Project of Sociology (Ping-keung Lui, 2010), I asked myself a question:

Is Activity Theory a sociological theory?

This question led to a series of discussions between Lui and me. In Oct 2022, I adopted Lui’s approach to curating four frameworks into a new meaningful whole: a theory of creative life.

In Dec 2022, Lui mailed a book titled Gaze, Actions, and the Social World to me. In the past four months, I read the book and wrote some short notes. Eventually, I started writing long notes and sent them to Lui.

After sending about three notes to Lui, I realized that I can run a passion project with the theme “Re-Engagement”.

The idea of Re-Engagement is not new. We all have experiences of remembering someone, someday, someplace. On March 1, 2017, my son wore mismatched socks in order to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. However, I want to use the concept of Re-Engagement to highlight the creative potential between personal memory such as my son’s birthday, and collective memory such as Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Once upon a great experience. No matter how big or small the experience is, we could re-engage with it.

We can also find the theme of Re-Engagement from knowledge activities. For example, see the picture below.

The 2019 book Perception as Information Detection: Reflections on Gibson’s Ecological Approach to Visual Perception is the outcome of a “Re-Engagement” project.

Ecological psychologist James J. Gibson published his landmark volume The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception in 1979. The 2019 book is authored by 16 ecological psychologists with a special form that provides a chapter-by-chapter update to and reflection on the 16 chapters in Gibson’s original volume.

Gaze, Actions and the Social World was published in 2007. Now I am writing notes chapter by chapter. This idea turned my normal notes into a passion project.

Yesterday, I sent the last note to Lui and closed the passion project.

How many notes did I write?

15 notes. Total 228 pages.

The outcome is amazing! I reflected on the following three projects while I was replaying Lui’s journey of developing his theory.

The Knowledge Engagement Project
The Creative Life Framework
The Theme of “Value Circle”

I also developed several new frameworks which form the Creative Life Theory (v2.0).

A “Mental Moves” Case Study

In the 65-page thesis, I selected a process of making a semiotic system of Creative Life Strategy and related models as a case for the “Mental Moves” knowledge project.

There were four moves between the “Theoretical Sociology” thematic space and the “Creative Life Theory” thematic space.

#1 Reference
#2 Reflection
#3 Expansion
#4 Curation

In the first move, I used the “Nested Structure” of Theoretical Sociology as Frame of Reference and curated four theoretical frameworks into one semiotic system called Creative Life Strategy.

In the second move, I reflected on the #1 move and made a model called Three-space Model.

In the third move, I expanded the Three-space Model into Five-space Model which was also called the Strategic Curation model.

In the fourth move, I curated the Strategic Curation model into the Advanced Life Strategy toolkit.

#1 Reference

On Oct 26, 2022, I made a semiotic system for the Life Strategy project. I used Lui’s theoretical sociology as a Reference Frame to curate the following three approaches and related frameworks into a meaningful framework.

The diagram below is my original diagram which shows three theoretical approaches and four related frameworks.

The above diagram highlights three theoretical approaches:

Activity Theory
Curativity Theory
The Project Engagement approach

It also shows the following four frameworks:

The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework
The Life — History Complex
The Creative Life Curation framework
The Path of Creative Life

The structure of Lui’s theoretical sociology is a nested structure. See the diagram below. According to Lui, “The realism comprises a subjectivist structuralism and an objectivist stock of knowledge, while the hermeneutics is an interpretation and an analysis. Second, I shall present an ontology that nests the realism within its boundaries.” (p.250, 2016, Aspects of Sociological Explanation)

As a grand theory, Lui’s theoretical sociology can be used as a frame to curate theoretical approaches. For the Life Strategy Project, I considered it a meta-theory for theoretical curation.

The above diagram uses Lui’s nested structure to connect my four frameworks. It’s clear that these frameworks are located at different layers.

Ontology: The Path of Creative Life and The Life — History Complex
Realism: The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) Framework
Hermeneutics: The Creative Life Curation Framework

Lui’s approach also offers a brand-new tool called “Semiotic System Diagram” which is a set of concepts that are connected together. He used the same method of mapping the semiotic system of theoretical sociology to map other sociological theories. By comparing different semiotic system diagrams with the semiotic system diagram of theoretical sociology, he can use his theoretical sociology to support and contain many empirical sociological theories.

I made a semiotic system for understanding Creative Life Strategy. Since the above diagram shows the basic structure of the map, I collected major concepts from my four frameworks and placed them together.

The final outcome is the following semiotic system diagram.

The above diagram uses three colors to highlight three parts of the framework.

Blue > Ontology: The Path of Creative Life and The Life — History Complex
Green > Realism: The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) Framework
Red > Hermeneutics: The Creative Life Curation Framework

Each part features several concepts from the original frameworks. The whole semiotic system diagram is quite complicated, however, it is not complex and chaotic.

You can find more details in Slow Cognition: Three Paths of Creative Life and A Semiotic System.

#2 Reflection

The #1 move is a one-day tiny theoretical curation, but it made a huge impact on my creative work.

After writing the body of the article, I added the last section to the article and reflected on the whole journey. The outcome of the reflection is the three-space model.

How did I find the solution from Lui’s theoretical sociology?

In fact, it was not a one-day trip. It’s a one-month journey.

On Sept 18, 2022, I designed a cover image for a possible book titled Knowledge Curation and used it to close the Knowledge Curation project (phase 1).
Then, I moved to a new journey: the Life Curation project for Life Strategy Center.
On Oct 20, 2022, I reflected on the Knowledge Curation project and published the Creative Life Curation Framework.
Moreover, I used “Subjectification=Experience 1=Second-order Activity” and “Objectification=Experience 2=First-order Activity” which led to a creative dialogue between three theoretical frameworks.
On Oct 25, 2022, I made the original diagram (see below) for a theoretical curation project. I wanted to curate three paths and four sub-frameworks together.

While the primary theme is claimed, the concrete solution is not clear. The primary theme is the transformation between individual actions and collective culture.

From three different theoretical approaches, I developed three paths for understanding the primary theme. How can I curate these paths into a meaningful whole?

The above diagram is not the final answer.

I need a new knowledge container to contain these three pieces.

The solution is clear. I can use a meta-theory as the container. Lui’s theoretical sociology is a such meta-theory.

The starting point of this solution is the echo between the Path of Creative Life and Lui’s ontology “The Fleeting Moment”. On Oct 2, I sent an email to Lui and mentioned this insight.

In fact, I mentioned the echo between “First-order Activity / Second-order Activity” and Lui’s realism “Weberian course of action / Giddensian course of action” in an email I sent to Lui on Sep 26, 2022.

On Oct 25, 2022, I realized that the Creative Life Curation framework is located in the Hermeneutics part. Finally, I complete a puzzle.

I used the WXMY meta-diagram to reflect on the journey and made the following diagram.

PCL: The Path of Creative Life
LHC: The Life — History Complex
AAS: The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) Framework
CLC: The Creative Life Curation Framework

What’s the difference between the above model and the original WXMY diagram?

In the original WXMY diagram, Container Z is potential while Container X and Container Y are actual. The object is using Container Z as a creative space.

For the present case, Container Z is actual while Container Y is potential.

Container X: Reference Space is actual
Container Z: Problem Space is actual
Contaienr Y: Solution Space is potential

How does Reference Space work? It offers the aspect of Form for Solution Space.

How does Problem Space work? It offers the aspect of Content for Solution Space.

How does Solution Space work? It curates Form and Content together.

How did I work with Reference Space and Solution Space?

The problem space was born on Oct 20, 2022. In fact, Solution Space was born before Problem Space. Before working on this theoretical curation project, I was learning Lui’s approach by playing with the semiotic system diagram.

#3 Expansion

In early November 2022, I discussed the notion of “Speculative Thinking” with some friends. The conversation inspired me to coin a new term called “Speculative Space”.

Eventually, I made the third move and expanded the original three-space model into a five-space model.

What is Speculative Space?

I use the term to refer to a cognitive container that contains the activity of Speculative Thinking.

What is Speculative Thinking?

According to some academic scholars, “Speculative thinking refers to thinking about past or future possibilities; it includes counterfactual thinking, prefactual thinking, and other types.”

In daily life, people often consider how things could have been different in the past and might be different in the future. Imagine, for example, the following scenario: you rush to the train station, only to discover that your train departed 5 min ago. You may think about how things could have gone differently, such as “If I hadn’t gotten caught in that traffic jam, I would have arrived at the train station on time.” You may also think about how to ensure a different outcome in the future: “If I leave home earlier next time, I’ll arrive at the train station on time.” Imagining how events could have been different is called counterfactual thinking (e.g., Kahneman and Tversky, 1981; Roese, 1997; Byrne, 2002).
Kahneman and Tversky (1981) proposed this concept in a paper on heuristic simulation. They described heuristic simulation as a conscious reactivation of past behavior stored in memory. Imagining how things might or will differ in the future represents prefactual thinking (e.g., Schacter et al., 2007; Epstude et al., 2016). Counterfactual and prefactual thinking are two types of speculative thinking; they involve consideration of past or future possibilities, respectively.
Source: A Review of Functions of Speculative Thinking (Lun Huang, Yibo Xie, and Xiaolin Chen, 2021)

Inspired by the notion of Speculative Thinking, I added two new spaces to the original three-space model.

I also renamed two old spaces.

Experience Space: It refers to the facts of the Past.
Challenge Space: It refers to the problems in the Present
Response Space: It refers to the solutions for the Future
Reference Space: It refers to reliable knowledge for thinking
Speculative Space: It refers to imaginative thinking such as Counterfactual Thinking about the Past and Prefactual Thinking about the Future.

The new model was named Strategic Curation Model.

What does Strategic Curation mean?

It refers to using a specific strategy to curate pieces of experience, knowledge, and resources into a meaningful whole for a better future. For example, there are 14 types of possible moves between five spaces. See the diagram below.

You can find more details in A Five-space Model for Strategic Curation Activity.

#4 Curation

In Dec 2022, I worked on editing a possible book titled Advanced Life Strategy: Anticipatory Activity System and Life Achievements. I made the fourth move and curated the five-space model into the Advanced Life Strategy toolkit.

I used the Nested Structure to curate four ideas together for the book.

The above diagram shows four ideas of the approach for Advanced Life Strategy.

Ontology: The World of Activity
Realism: The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework
Hermeneutics: The Strategic Curation Framework and Advanced Predictive Models

The five-space model is called the strategic curation framework too. The concept map below shows more details about applying the Five-space model to develop advanced predictive models.