The life of theory: subjectivity, memory, and affective ontologies of theory and art
link.springer.com
What if theories aren't just tools but living things — this article introduces a six-stage biography framework that treats ideas themselves as entities with births, memories, and emotional lives.
Theory Biography FrameworkAffective OntologyPhenomenologyPhilosophy of Mind
Theory Briefing
- The Theory Biography Framework (TBF) maps theories through six life-stages, treating conceptual systems as entities that are born, grow, and decay.
- By linking subjectivity and memory to theoretical development, TBF challenges the assumption that ideas exist independently of the minds that hold them.
- Applying the framework to artworks as well as theories, the article argues that affective experience — emotion and feeling — is central to how concepts take on meaning and endure.