Mediate is ... Definition, use, examples

We are always dominated by the indirect and direct. We exist between our consciousness, thinking, perception and communication with the world around us ...

Definition

The word "mediate" is a verb that denotes the execution of an action not directly, but through an intermediary, obtaining the result by transferring a function from one object to another. They can act anything: object, action, knowledge, person, etc. The object receives the result without performing a rectilinear action for this - indirectly.

The opposite of the meaning of the concept - directly. That is, you can find out which hour is now (directly) by looking at the clock or (indirectly) by asking someone.

We receive information about the environment through the skin (temperature, humidity, material characteristics, etc.), eyes (light, color, movement, etc.), ears (loudness, vibrations, etc.). But this perception itself is considered direct, because it gives us answers directly. I put my hand under a stream of water and determined it was wet and cold, wiped with a towel - warm and dry, and the towel itself was soft and fluffy. The power of our vision is not enough to see distant stars and planets - we take the telescope as an intermediary and study them indirectly.

Mediated cognition

It is based precisely on the perception that we receive, using the senses and receptors.

You can learn about the water temperature by touching it (directly) or by dropping the thermometer into it (indirectly). And we do not need exact knowledge of physical laws, obeying which the mercury column rises or falls. Sufficient general ideas about this phenomenon.

So people learn about the composition of distant stars and planets without using their substances for direct laboratory experiments. About the height of various objects without climbing them. We receive this data through knowledge of the necessary regularities, phenomena, facts. Our thinking allows us to mediate this knowledge for another object. That is, through the theory of the motion of the planets, we can learn the mass of Uranus without weighing it.

Mediated Thinking

Life often puts before us such tasks that can not be solved directly, directly. Being able to find the answer (to perform a certain algorithm of actions) in similar but simpler situations, we can mediate this knowledge for situations that are not directly controlled by us (as with planets).

When a law that has been proven and reliably proven on elementary objects, we apply for objects of complex, abstract and we get new knowledge, new results, our mediated thinking works.

We apply it when:

• Work with the object is directly impossible because of the undeveloped or lack of the necessary reflexes, sensory organs, etc. (ultrasound, radiation);
• Direct knowledge is possible, but not in real time (history, archeology);
• Mediated knowledge, the study of objects is more rational (measurement of mass, volume, height of large objects).

Mediated Communication

This is a very common modern concept. Direct communication involves dialogue "eye to eye", when the speaker immediately sees, feels a reaction to what has been said. Talking at a table in a cafe is a direct communication.

All that comes between the interlocutors, makes communication mediated. Mute sends information to each other through gestures. Most modern people communicate by phone, e-mails, video calls, etc.

In this context, mediate - this is to convey some information with the help of some means of communication (walkie-talkies, letters, gestures).

Direct communication is the main, it is important facial expressions, gestures, mutual position of partners, touch - all this helps to convey to the interlocutor information without expressing them (mood, interest, irritation).

In mediated communication, there are few such possibilities, everything needs to be spoken out.