thread: 2009-07-13 : How About Some Q and A
On 2009-07-26, Bwian wrote:
Christian & Callan: I'm having trouble following what is at issue here. In fact I see a fair amount of agreement/ overlap, I think.
If the following remarks are irrelevant, please feel free to ignore them.
Callan:
At 73 you said: 'to determine if something is agreement... is important to the theory.'
I agree [hah!]. May I suggest that there are several ways in which we use the term 'agreement'? Off the top of my head I can think of:
0) Being the same or consistent with ('the results are in agreement')
1) A verbal (or other momentary) interaction in which we affirm that we understand each other and hold the same opinion about some matter. [not of much interest in the present discussion].
2) A momentary interaction in which we affirm that 'I/we will do x and y...'
3) A record, such as a document, of an interaction like (2).
4) A hypothetical construct associated with an interaction like (2) that we use to talk about the status of our subsequent actions, preferences and intentions in relation to an interaction like (2).
Note that:
A: many (all?) uses of the word 'agreement' in sense (4) could be replaced with direct references to the corresponding event of agreement (2). E.g. 'According to our agreement, since the bus was on time, you owe me ten bucks' = 'We agreed the other day that if the bus was late you would pay me ten bucks'.
B: An 'agreement' in sense (4) is not a thing. We use the word in this sense as a matter of convenience. No thing is created by an event like (2). So when we say 'you broke our agreement', this means 'you have wronged me because we agreed x and you did not do x'. How we respond to this state of affairs depends on how we wish to deal with being wronged, not with the integrity or otherwise of the 'agreement'. In other words it is a personal/ social matter rather than technical/ causal one. When we talk about 'we have an ongoing agreement' we mean roughly that there was an event like (2) at which we affirmed that we would do x, y and z until further notice.
Christian:
Thank you for making the distinction between 'what's in the rules' and 'what's in the field of creative content'.
Cheers
Bwian
