Schemas Take 1

We have schemas for everything.

We have schemas, or templates, in our minds of what we expect when someone mentions ...

• a person
• a house
• an office
• a trip to the restaurant
• all parts of the physical universe
  
• etc.

These are very helpful. As we learn about something or someone, we "fill in the blanks" of what we expect to learn.
For instance, when thinking about a house that we have never been to, we start filling in the blanks ...

• Where the house is
• Directions to get there
• How many bedrooms
• Does it have a pool!
• etc.
  

Without a previous schema for a house, you would feel utterly lost if somebody was giving you these details!

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Zoetics is a tool that enables us to build visual schemas for non-visible things.
Like ...

• a problem
• a decision
• an event
  
  
• any relationship
  
  
• ordering your daily life
• an entire lifetime
  
  
• running your business
• running a project
  
  
• the movie you just saw
• a great scholarly work
  
• etc. etc. etc.
  

For instance, EVERY problem has 4 components

1. Where we are now
2. Where we want to be
3. What is the Context of the Problem (How does it fit in with the Big Picture)
4. What should we do, if anything
   

When you have a visual schema of this, it makes it much easier to be objective and consider each item in its turn.

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schema definition

(The first three definitions here nail what Zoetics has to offer)

1. A diagrammatic representation; an outline or model.
2. A pattern imposed on complex reality or experience to assist in ... explaining it, mediate perception, or guide response.
(Ref_1)

3. an internal representation of the world; an organization of concepts and actions that can be revised by new information about the world
4. a schematic or preliminary plan [syn: outline, scheme]
(Ref_2)


Ref_1
dictionary.com

Ref_2
Hypertext Webster Gateway
http://www.bennetyee.org/http_webster.cgi