We explain what change is in its various senses, according to philosophy and psychology. Also, currency exchange and social change.
What is change?
A change is the action of transforming one thing into another, abandoning one thing or situation for another, or exchanging something for another that is considered of similar value.
These are just some of the meanings associated with this word, linked to its daily use and at the same time with specific uses, which we will detail later. The term from Latin i will change which in turn is derived from Celtic or Gaulish.
Since the beginning of the humanity, change has been present wherever we look, in the nature, at weather, in our own changing bodies, which grow, develop, age and die.
Change is intrinsic to weatherThat is, given an appropriate amount of time, all things tend to change in one way or another. However, the periods necessary for it to happen can be very different, depending on whether we consider a rock, a cloud or a plant.
Currency exchange
Like all merchandise in the world capitalist, the currency of each country is subject to a demand and one offer, that is, to those who wish to have it and those who do not, which determines, among other things, the relative value of each currency.
This means that any bill, check, deposit, loan or financial product, when passing from one currency to another, is undergoing a currency change, which affects its value, either favorably (multiplying its value) or unfavorably ( decreasing its value).
This relationship is expressed in a convertibility rate, which at times can vary and be free, and at other times it can be more or less fixed, determined and held in place by forces outside the market, such as the Condition. Thus, the coins can be classified into:
- Strong coins. Its transit to the others is usually favorable or very favorable all the time, such as the dollar, the euro, the pound sterling, etc.
- Weak coins. Their transit to the others is usually unfavorable or very unfavorable all the time.
These types of changes can be made in various institutions, often having to pay a commission or tax for the transaction, or aiming for better and worse prices, as the case may be. We refer to banks, exchange houses, money transfer services, or individuals.
Change in philosophy
From the earliest forms of philosophy, change has existed as a counterpart to stillness and permanence. Has inspired by human being feelings such as nostalgia, fear or fascination.
That everything changes is an idea quickly installed in the mind of humanity, and ancient philosophers, of the stature of the Greek Aristotle, theorized about it, for example, distinguishing two forms of change in nature:
- The substantial change. That supposes radical alterations of the substances, whose two most notable cases are generation (birth, gestation, germination) and corruption (death, decay, rot).
- The accidental change. That hardly alters an aspect or accident of the substances, giving them or subtracting some characteristic, but leaving their essence intact. This type of change can be local, quantitative or qualitative, depending on whether it implies a displacement from one place to another, the increase or decrease of its quantity, or the substitution of one quality for another determined one.
Finally, Aristotle also offers us four possible causes of all change, which are:
- The material cause. When it is due to mutations of one's own matter, such as decomposition or internal transformation.
- The formal cause. When it comes from the same and unaltered essence of the thing, but it manifests itself in a change of form or in an apparent way.
- The efficient cause. When it is the consequence of the action of an agent on matter, such as a acid that corrode the metal or a sculptor who sculpts the block of marble.
- The final cause. When the transformation is undertaken with a specific purpose in mind, that is, when there is a specific goal to achieve.
Social change
For its part, social change is the appreciable alteration of the social structures of a community, allowing the emergence of new forms of organization either gradually (reform) or violent (revolution).
This also alters the social norms, popular values and ways of exercising economy, among other things. It is often the main driver for large-scale political transits and socioeconomic readjustments.
A review of the history it is enough to observe the presence of social changes and the impact they have had on the ways of life of humanity, as well as the multiplicity of factors that triggered them.
Its consequences can range from the fall of a social, political and economic regime (such as the abolition of the Old Regime during the time of the French Revolution of 1789), until the rearrangement and alteration of specific elements of the same (such as the change of a system of government for another).
Social change is a subject of study for the sociology, the anthropology, social psychology and other social Sciences.
Change in psychology
In psychology, change is understood as a dynamic characteristic of individuals, the result of complex processes of self-realization, trauma, or mutation and resistance to it. That is, change is understood psychologically as an adaptive process of the human mind.
In other words, we are actually talking about adaptation to change, since the latter occurs in the reality it is objective and demands, in this way, a similar change in the psyche. In that sense, learn (for better or for worse) is nothing more than a form of change.
Depending on the nature of this adaptation, we can roughly distinguish two main forms of psychological change:
- The change of the first order. In which certain parameters of the psyche vary, but this as a whole or system remains more or less unchanged, that is, it is about superficial or specific adaptations. This type of change occurs faster and more frequently.
- The second order change. In which the psychic structure changes qualitatively and discontinuously, that is, permanent, deep and structural. This type of change takes much longer to occur, or it requires extraordinary events (such as structural trauma).
Climate change
We call climate change the variation of stable weather patterns over an extended period of time, which can range from a few decades to millions of years.
It is usually accompanied by climate readjustment processes that often involve Meteorological phenomena extremes, with a high impact on the lifestyles ofFlora fauna and humanity.