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Howdy Harrison, <br>
This background story on the "wonderful internal contradiction" does
explain the curiously dissonant sentence structure of "Be prepared
to be surprised."<br>
<br>
"Be prepared to be surprised" is a directive, a structure that is
dissonant and might even be in conflict with the concepts of
self-management, self-governance, self-organization et al. <br>
<br>
I have been studying, arranging and facilitating OST meetings for
over 5 years, and I just noticed this curious fact for the 1st time.
<br>
<br>
Probably something to do with the books I'm reading lately. <br>
<br>
And this guy: <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin</a><br>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=windows-1252">
Austin pointed out that we use language to <i>do</i> things as well
as to <i>assert</i> things, and that the utterance of a statement
like "I promise to do so-and-so" is best understood as <i>doing</i>
something — <i>making a promise</i> — rather than making an
assertion about anything. Hence the name of one of his best-known
works: "How to do Things with Words".<br>
<br>
Kind Regards,<br>
Dan<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/26/13 11:38 AM, Michael M
Pannwitz wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:526BE20C.8090900@gmail.com" type="cite">you
couldnt, because you are already dead
<br>
mmp
<br>
<br>
On 26.10.2013 17:35, Harrison Owen wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Actually Dan – it is and always has been a
serious joke, with (I think)
<br>
a wonderful internal contradiction. If you were really prepared
to be
<br>
surprised, you couldn’t be surprised... or could you J
<br>
<br>
ho
<br>
<br>
Harrison Owen
<br>
<br>
7808 River Falls Dr.
<br>
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Phone 301-365-2093
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*From:*oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org
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[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org">mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>] *On Behalf Of
*Daniel Mezick
<br>
*Sent:* Saturday, October 26, 2013 9:18 AM
<br>
*To:* <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a>
<br>
*Subject:* [OSList] : Speech acts
<br>
<br>
When responding to Jenifer's thoughts earlier, I realized:
<br>
<br>
The slogan "Be Prepared to Be Surprised" is a most interesting
one in OST.
<br>
<br>
It is actually an illocutionary speech act.... of type
"*/Directive/*".
<br>
<br>
So, located here in OST, baked into it, we have a specific
slogan that
<br>
is attempting to *cause* the hearer to take a particular action,
e.g. a
<br>
request, *commands* and advice. A directive!
<br>
<br>
I wonder if the undeniably directive structure of "Be Prepared
to Be
<br>
Surprised" really aligned with the intention/spirit/philosophy
of OST.
<br>
<br>
Dan
<br>
<br>
<br>
Background links:
<br>
<br>
What is a speech act?
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts</a>
<br>
A */speech act/* in linguistics
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics"><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics></a> and the
philosophy of
<br>
language
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language"><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language></a> is
an
<br>
utterance that has performative function in language and
communication.
<br>
<br>
What is an illocutionary act?
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act</a>
<br>
*Illocutionary act* is a term in linguistics
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics"><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics></a> introduced by
the philosopher
<br>
John L. Austin
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin"><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin></a> in his
<br>
investigation of the various aspects of speech acts
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts"><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts></a>.
<br>
<br>
What is a Directive illocutionary act?
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act#Classes_of_illocutionary_acts">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act#Classes_of_illocutionary_acts</a>
<br>
*directives* = speech acts that are to *cause the hearer to take
a
<br>
particular action*, e.g. requests, commands and advice
<br>
<br>
More than you asked for:
<br>
What is a Commissive speech act?
<br>
*commissives* = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future
action,
<br>
e.g. promises and oaths
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 10/24/13 1:29 PM, Jenifer Toksvig wrote:
<br>
<br>
Dan wrote: >> Consider the man who loves a certain
woman, and waits
<br>
for the current trend of her interest in him to change. He
is goal
<br>
seeking without controlling. Likewise, trend-following
market
<br>
traders do not attempt to create, control or make trends.
They
<br>
simply identify & ride them, while seeking wealth.
<<
<br>
<br>
Waiting and seeking are still forms of controlling. Your
loving man
<br>
has chosen to wait for his goal rather than (to coin a
phrase) being
<br>
prepared to be surprised by another woman. He may not be
trying to
<br>
control her, but he’s still trying to control the situation
in a way
<br>
that he thinks will allow him to achieve his goal.
<br>
<br>
Those who seek wealth do likewise: they don’t randomly ride
the
<br>
trends, they identify them and make choices about how to
ride them,
<br>
in order to obtain wealth. That is control.
<br>
<br>
I don’t think it’s possible to be goal-oriented and try to
exert
<br>
some kind of control over the process, unless your goal is…
to have
<br>
no goal. Actually, even being prepared to be surprised is a
goal. A
<br>
sort of wonderfully ridiculous one.
<br>
<br>
Jen x
<br>
<br>
*Jenifer Toksvig
<br>
*www.acompletelossforwords.com
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.acompletelossforwords.com"><http://www.acompletelossforwords.com></a>
<br>
<br>
*The Copenhagen Interpretation
<br>
*www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk"><http://www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk></a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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<p class="p1">Daniel Mezick, President</p>
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