[OSList] : Speech acts

Michael M Pannwitz mmpannwitz at gmail.com
Sat Oct 26 06:54:42 PDT 2013


Well, Dan, if you feel commanded and directed, imperatively, by "Be 
prepared to be surprised" (In German: "Augen Auf! Mit Überraschungen ist 
zu rechnen!", even more gruesome), how do you feel being confronted by 
the Law?
And by a facilitator raising his/her voice by saying, as the Law (in 
German: Das Gesetz) is introduced: "You know about Laws, they have to be 
obeyed...!!!", followed by the translation of the Law, theatrical pause 
and then, facilitator stops in his/her tracks (here I am talking of 
classical facilitators like me that walk the circle): "You honor a group 
with your absence when you neither learn nor contribute something. If 
you learn something, stay. If you contribute something, stay. If neither 
is happening you leave the group by whatever means are available to you 
and look for a more productive place for you to be in!"
Adding, "and this Law is in force right now!", pause.....
Somehow, I havent gotten the curve yet, when I introduce the admonition 
(yes, this is the name for it, in German: Ermahnung) and the Law... 
invariably participants smile or grin at me!!
No respect for authority, let alone age or beauty, and this just at the 
very beginning of an open space event.

Have a great Sunday!!!
cheers
mmp


On 26.10.2013 15:17, Daniel Mezick wrote:
> When responding to Jenifer's thoughts earlier, I realized:
>
> The slogan "Be Prepared to Be Surprised" is a most interesting one in OST.
>
> It is actually an illocutionary speech act.... of type "*/Directive/*".
>
> So, located here in OST, baked into it, we have a specific slogan that
> is attempting to *cause* the hearer to take a particular action, e.g. a
> request, *commands* and advice. A directive!
>
> I wonder if the undeniably directive structure of "Be Prepared to Be
> Surprised" really aligned with the intention/spirit/philosophy of OST.
>
> Dan
>
>
> Background links:
>
> What is a speech act?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts
> A /*speech act*/ in linguistics
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics> and the philosophy of
> language <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language> is an
> utterance that has performative function in language and communication.
>
> What is an illocutionary act?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act
> *Illocutionary act* is a term in linguistics
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics> introduced by the philosopher
> John L. Austin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin> in his
> investigation of the various aspects of speech acts
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts>.
>
> What is a Directive illocutionary act?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act#Classes_of_illocutionary_acts
> *directives* = speech acts that are to *cause the hearer to take a
> particular action*, e.g. requests, commands and advice
>
> More than you asked for:
> What is a Commissive speech act?
> *commissives* = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action,
> e.g. promises and oaths
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10/24/13 1:29 PM, Jenifer Toksvig wrote:
>> Re: [OSList] The OST Game Dan wrote: >> Consider the man who loves a
>> certain woman, and waits for the current trend of her interest in him
>> to change. He is goal seeking without controlling. Likewise,
>> trend-following market traders do not attempt to create, control or
>> make trends. They simply identify & ride them, while seeking wealth. <<
>>
>> Waiting and seeking are still forms of controlling. Your loving man
>> has chosen to wait for his goal rather than (to coin a phrase) being
>> prepared to be surprised by another woman. He may not be trying to
>> control her, but he’s still trying to control the situation in a way
>> that he thinks will allow him to achieve his goal.
>>
>> Those who seek wealth do likewise: they don’t randomly ride the
>> trends, they identify them and make choices about how to ride them, in
>> order to obtain wealth. That is control.
>>
>> I don’t think it’s possible to be goal-oriented and try to exert some
>> kind of control over the process, unless your goal is… to have no
>> goal. Actually, even being prepared to be surprised is a goal. A sort
>> of wonderfully ridiculous one.
>>
>> Jen x
>>
>> *Jenifer Toksvig
>> *www.acompletelossforwords.com
>>
>> *The Copenhagen Interpretation
>> *www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> OSList mailing list
>> To post send emails toOSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>> To unsubscribe send an email toOSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>
> --
>
> Daniel Mezick, President
>
> New Technology Solutions Inc.
>
> (203) 915 7248 (cell)
>
> Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
> <http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
>
> Examine my new book:The Culture Game
> <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the
> Agile Manager.
>
> Explore Agile Team Training
> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching.
> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
>
> Explore the Agile Boston <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>

-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000



Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 415 resident Open 
Space Workers in 72 countries working in a total of 143 countries 
worldwide: www.openspaceworldmap.org



More information about the OSList mailing list