reflection
(less commonly), reflexionreflection
(ri-flek -shŏn) A phenomenon occurring when a beam of light or other wave motion strikes a surface separating two different media, such as air and glass or air and metal. Part of the wave has its direction changed, according to the laws of reflection, so that it does not enter the second medium. A rough surface will produce diffuse reflection. A smooth surface, as of polished metal, will reflect the radiation in a regular manner. The laws of reflection state firstly that the incident beam, the reflected beam, and the normal (the line perpendicular to the surface at the point of incidence) lie in the same plane, and secondly that the two beams are inclined at the same angle to but on either side of the normal.Reflection
reflection
[ri′flek·shən]reflection
reflection
(1) A characteristic of light (see reflective).(2) A feature of some programming languages and scripting languages that allows them to change their own structure at runtime. It typically refers to interpreted languages that can, for example, accept source code as input, which modifies the program's original behavior when executed. A compiler may also provide meta-data that can be used for reflection at runtime. See also reflection mapping.
(3) (Reflection) A family of connectivity software from Attachmate Corporation that runs under Windows. Reflection products include terminal emulation for Unix, HP, OpenVMS, IBM and X Window as well as NFS support for clients and NT servers. The Reflection line was originally the flagship product offering of WRQ, Inc., which Attachmate acquired in 2005.
Reflection
a universal property of matter, consisting in the reproduction of that which belongs to the object reflected. “It is logical to assert that all matter possesses a property which is essentially akin to sensation, the property of reflection” (V. I. Lenin, Poln. sobr. soch, 5th ed., vol. 18, p. 91). Any reflection carries information about the object of reflection. Both the capacity for reflection and the nature of its manifestation depend on the level of organization of matter. Reflection appears in qualitatively different forms in inorganic nature, in the world of plants and animals, and, finally, among human beings. The interaction of different material systems results in mutual reflection in the form of simple mechanical deformation (such as the imprint of a body in sand), contraction or expansion depending on temperature changes (for example, a thermometer), reflection of light, changes in electromagnetic waves (such as photography), the reflection of sound waves (an echo), chemical changes (for instance, the color of litmus paper), and physiological processes (for example, contraction of the pupil of the eye in bright light). The invention of electronic computers capable of recognizing patterns, distinguishing objects, carrying out operations of formal logic, and developing conditioned reflexes—in short, capable of reflecting the relationships among things and orienting themselves in the world—reaffirms the idea of reflection as a universal property of matter.
An essential property of living organisms is irritability—the reflection of the influences of the external and internal environment in the form of excitation and selective response. Irritability is a prepsychological form of reflection, a means of regulating adaptive behavior. A later stage in the development of reflection is associated with the appearance, in higher living organisms, of sensitivity—that is, the ability to experience sensations, which are the primary form of animal psychology. The development of sense organs and the coordination of their functioning led to perception, the ability to reflect things as the totality of their properties. Animals not only differentiate in their perception of the properties and relationships of things, but they also reflect a considerable number of biologically important relationships in the environment. This is an elementary form of thinking, which reaches its highest level in anthropoid apes and dolphins.
The development of man and human society through work and communication with the aid of speech resulted in the appearance of a specifically human, essentially social, form of reflection: consciousness and self-consciousness. Man’s reflection of reality differs from animal reflection in both the method and object of reflection; man strives not only to satisfy his basic needs but to understand the objective relations between things. The characteristic feature of human reflection is that it is somewhat ideal. It presupposes not only an influence on the subject from without, but also the subject’s independent actions and creative activity, manifested in his selective and purposeful perception, in his ability to abstract himself from some objects, properties, and relations and to focus on others, in the conversion of sensory images to logical thought, and in the use of conceptual forms of knowledge. The creative activity of man is also revealed in acts of productive imagination, in activity aimed at discovering truth through the formulation and testing of a hypothesis, in the development of a theory, and in the formulation of new ideas, plans, and aims.
V. I. Lenin made an important contribution to the theory of cognition as a reflection of reality. Therefore, the dialectical-materialist theory of reflection is correctly called the Leninist theory of reflection. The Leninist principle of reflection has been attacked by certain revisionists and bourgeois ideologists, notably H. Lefebvre, R. Garaudy, and G. Petrović, who assert that the theory of reflection restricts man to “that which exists” (since it is impossible to reflect the future—that which does not yet exist) and underestimates the creative activity of consciousness. They advocate replacing the category of reflection with the concept of practice. The groundlessness of this criticism, which replaces the dialectical-materialist concept of reflection with a mechanistic interpretation of it, is self-evident. Lenin never denied the creative activity of consciousness: “man’s consciousness not only reflects the objective world, but creates it” (ibid., vol. 29, p. 194). But the creative activity of man, who transforms the world, is only possible through an adequate reflection of the objective world.
The principle of reflection is the cornerstone of the materialist theory of knowledge, which rests on a recognition of the primacy of the external world and the re-creation of it in human consciousness. Lenin noted that the concept of reflection was part of the definition of dialectical, consistent materialism, and from this standpoint he criticized the epistemology of subjective and objective idealism.
REFERENCES
Lenin, V. I. “Materializm i empiriokrititsizm.” Poln. sobr. soch, 5th ed., vol. 18.Lenin, V. I. “Filosofskie tetradi.” Poln. sobr. soch, vol. 29.
Pavlov, T. Teoriia otrazheniia. Moscow, 1949.
Rubinshtein, S. L. Bytie i soznanie. Moscow, 1957.
Korshunov, A. M. Teoriia otrazheniia i sovremennaia nauka. Moscow, 1968.
Ukraintsev, B. S. Otrazhenie ν nezhivoi prirode. Moscow, 1968.
Problemy otrazheniia. Moscow, 1969.
živković, L. Teoriia sotsial’nogo otrazheniia. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from Serbo-Croatian.)
Leninskaia teoriia otrazheniia i sovremennost’. Sofia, 1969.
Tiukhtin, V. S. Otrazhenie, sistemy, kibernetika. Moscow, 1972.
A. G. SPIRKIN
Reflection
a form of speculation directed at understanding one’s own actions and the laws that govern them; self-knowledge revealing the specifics of man’s inner world. The content of reflection is determined by sensuous, objective activity; ultimately, reflection is the awareness of practice (seePRACTICE) and the objective world of culture. In this sense, reflection is a method of philosophy and dialectic is the reflection of reason.