Re: [xmca] When does an unbroken action begin and end?

[Mike Cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

Its often not clear to me, either, tony. "Influence" (to site a related
discussion) may appear to be linear but i think that idea hides the
underlying dynamic processes. Jay's comments are relevant here. So is
Dewey's critique of the reflex concept. You have an active,
living organism, "doing something."  a "stimulus" smacks her/him in the
mouth/eye/skin. That "SEEMS" to be the influence that gets the eye to blink
or the mouth to water or......, but what "the" stimulus" is depends a whole
lot on what the person is doing. "The" stimulus
is not entirely specifiable beyond the ongoing action/activity of individual
Andy refers to.

These issues touch on one that I think about often: ""I forgot the word I
wanted to say, and thought, unembodied, returns,to the hall of
shadows."--e.g. the thought is completed in the word.  ----- I keep thinking
that the word/reduced-thought enters the world and is or isnot taken up, and
either way, the "meaning" keeps changes and when it "comes back" to you, and
you think about "it" , "it" is no longer the same thing. "The tought" is
notne's own, control has changed.

family calls.
mike

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 6:17 PM, Tony Whitson <twhitson@udel.edu> wrote:

> On Fri, 21 Aug 2009, Andy Blunden wrote:
>
>  Mike Cole wrote:
>>
>>> Andy--
>>> Don't speeches and texts "pass control to and from an individual"??
>>>
>>
>> Yes, it's obvious when you're talking about discourse, but
>> what about the more general domain of social action? I am
>> thinking that the idea applies in just the same way, even if
>> not quite so clearly. So "action" begins and ends when you
>> get/lose control of the action from/to another person.
>>
>> On consciousness, let me think now ...
>> Andy
>>
>
> "control" seems not so clear to me. What about the dialogic character of my
> own <sic> train of thought? What about when a novelist or screenwriter pens
> a line of dialogue for a character, but the fictitious character herself
> fights back and, ultimately, refuses to say that line? Who's in control?
>
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