Reflection and Expression

To 'reflect' means, literally, to 'bend back'. Hence, an echo is a kind of 'reflection', because it involves the bending back of sound waves. Likewise, a turning toward oneself is a bending back, and, hence, an act of reflection. However, the perceptual dimension of the latter is not necessarily reflective, for its object of perception might be an original phenomenon, e. g. when one observes oneself producing a sound that is not itself an echo. Similarly, when one looks in the mirror, the reflective process involved is, precisely, the bending of the image of the face off the surface of the mirror, not the observation of this reflected image. Furthermore, the example of a perception of the image of an overhanging nearby tree in a body of water demonstrates that reflection need entail self-awareness. So, more generally, any exhibition of the modification of some entity is a reflection of the cause of that modification. Hence, any modification of a medium for communicative purposes is a reflection of the communicator and of those purposes. Thus, for example, the deliberate broadening of and upturning of the ends of one's mouth, thereby baring one's teeth, i. e. smiling, is a reflection of one's happiness. Therefore, the deliberate process that Dewey calls 'expression' is, more accurately, 'reflection', whereas the process that he characterizes as an involuntary discharge is, contrary to his classification, 'expression', i. e. 'pushing outward'.