Line Reflection

Theory

Line Reflection is one of the four reflection instruments which have been developed by Henk Procee: Point Reflection, Line Reflection, Triangle reflection and Circle Reflection. These are instruments which are intended to support personal and professional development.

The inspiration for the model of the line comes from the philosopher Plato. Plato made a distinction between the everyday world, a world of mediocrity and imperfection, and the world which rises above it: the world of the True, the Beautiful and the Good. The world of the True, the Beautiful and the Good contains the standards, norms or criteria for judging the everyday world, which is the world of the facts.

Line Reflection is about questioning the quality of a fact or an actual situation in the light of the standard or a norm. People can define problems in a variety of ways but what is the real problem? They can adopt all kinds of opinions but what is real knowledge? They can have all sorts of preferences but what is really valuable? Line Reflection helps us to find an answer to these and similar questions.

The relation between norm and fact is expressed by means of a horizontal line. Above the line there is the 'true' world, underneath the everyday one; above the world of the norms, underneath the world of the facts. The question is whether the facts answer to the norms. The answer to this question is obtained by exploring through reflection the norms and the facts, and the degree of similarity between them. The line stands for the degree of similarity. Thus the name: Line Reflection.