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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>Hi, Dan,<BR> <BR>"Be prepared to be surprised" along with the OST "principles" is <strong>descriptive </strong>of what participants might notice in Open Space. You could think of it as a "heads up" or a reminder that nobody knows specifically what is going to go up on the wall (nor what specific outcomes and next steps will emerge). General outcomes, yes, like emergent visions, creative collaboration, genuine community, serious learning and play, etc. but not specific ones, hence the element of surprise.<BR> <BR>In twenty years of facilitating Open Space I have never seen any one interpret it as a directive, just a reminder which not only applies to OST but also to life itself.<BR> <BR>All the best,<BR>Linda<BR> <BR> <BR><br> <BR><div><hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 09:17:38 -0400<br>From: dan@newtechusa.net<br>To: oslist@lists.openspacetech.org<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 "<b><i>Directive</i></b>".<br>
<br>
So, located here in OST, baked into it, we have a specific slogan
that is attempting to <b><big>cause</big></b> the hearer to take a
particular action, e.g. a request, <big><b>commands</b></big> and
advice. A directive!<br>
<br>
I wonder if the undeniably directive structure of "Be Prepared to Be
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="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts</a><br>
A <i><b>speech act</b></i> in <a title="Linguistics" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics" target="_blank">linguistics</a> and the <a title="Philosophy of language" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language" target="_blank">philosophy of language</a> is an
utterance that has performative function in language and
communication.<br>
<br>
What is an illocutionary act?<br>
<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act</a><br>
<b>Illocutionary act</b> is a term in <a title="Linguistics" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics" target="_blank">linguistics</a> introduced by the philosopher
<a title="John L. Austin" class="ecxmw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin" target="_blank">John L. Austin</a> in his
investigation of the various aspects of <a title="Speech acts" class="ecxmw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts" target="_blank">speech acts</a>. <br>
<br>
What is a Directive illocutionary act?<br>
<a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act#Classes_of_illocutionary_acts" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act#Classes_of_illocutionary_acts</a><br>
<b>directives</b> = speech acts that are to <b>cause the hearer to
take a particular action</b>, e.g. requests, commands and advice<br>
<br>
More than you asked for:<br>
What is a Commissive speech act?<br>
<b>commissives</b> = speech acts that commit a speaker to some
future action, e.g. promises and oaths<br>
<br>
<br>
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<div class="ecxmoz-cite-prefix">On 10/24/13 1:29 PM, Jenifer Toksvig
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:CE8F1773.214C7%25never@acompletelossforwords.com">
<title>Re: [OSList] The OST Game</title>
<font face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">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. <<<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Jen x<br>
<br>
</span><font color="#808080"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Jenifer Toksvig<br>
</b><a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.acompletelossforwords.com" target="_blank">www.acompletelossforwords.com</a><br>
<br>
<b>The Copenhagen Interpretation<br>
</b><a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk" target="_blank">www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk</a><br>
</span></font></font><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br>
</span></font>
<br>
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