The Desocs Part 6

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RELATIONSHIP; ORDINARY, EXTRAORDINARY, CONVERSATION; DYAD
MEANING; TRANSACTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DISPLAYS
ACCOUNTS; FACE CLAIMS
NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS (FOR LOST SHEEP ONLY)
ACCOUNTS; REALITY
MEANING
EXAMPLES OF SUBJECTIFYING AND OBJECTIFYING ASSERTIONS
SUBJECTIFYING AND OBJECTIFYING ASSERTIONS; EDUCATION
MEANING; TRANSACTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE

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RELATIONSHIP; ORDINARY, EXTRAORDINARY, CONVERSATION; DYAD

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1
Talking is a medium for relationship. Relationship is a characteristic of the species. People enter in ordinary relationships with members of the species and with members of other species that have been "domesticated" by the race. Relationship outside these two categories (e.g. with aliens, spirits, ghosts, God, etc.) are usually classified as "non-ordinary" or "extra-ordinary".

2
The basic conceptual unit of relationship is the dyad. In our culture, and related cultures, conversation forms a prominent medium for the relationship dynamics of the dyad. Transactional norms govern the ritualized procedures involved in the dyad's successful accomplishment involved in "having a conversation".

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MEANING; TRANSACTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DISPLAYS.

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1
Linguists and philosophers and etc. have long debated on "the meaning of meaning." From the point of view of a radically objective ethnomethodology, verbal displays in the form of utterances (as well as other displays) have no meaning other than their transactional significance.

2
Conversation and discourse are sanctioned procedures for topicalyzing Topicalyzing involves the formulation of accounts in the form of verbalized utterances. There utterances serve as displays for transactional face work. The transactional significance of displays is determined by participant's ratified agreement as to their definition the ratification work being accomplished in the exchange. And the conversation moves from exchange to exchange.

3
Where in all of this, is meaning???

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ACCOUNTS; FACE CLAIMS.

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1
Consider the various kinds of accounts participants can give to the request, "Why did you do that?" (e.g. because my boyfriend wouldn't talk to me because I went out with another fellow because I think it's good for a girl to .... because..... , etc.).

2
An account is a basic feature of a transactional move. In other words, there are no displays that are transactional moves that do not have this feature. A nod of the head defined by participants as Giving Assent is a transactional move that contains the claim "I am giving my assent." It is the claim that constitutes the account in the move.

3
Verbal utterances are displays that serve as transactional moves. The topic of the utterance serves as the medium for making face claims. An account is a set of face claims given in utterances.

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NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS (FOR LOST SHEEP ONLY)

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1
IF YOU HAVE FOUND ME...YOU'RE IN FOR A PRESENT.

2
Look here, now. None of your academic desocs ethnomethodological confabulations this time. I'm beginning to feel like a character in Dr. Seuss! ....!?*~***** (Oh! No offense meant to Dr. Seuss. I love him! But this...??!? Who needs it.)

3
O.K O.K. We know it's a helluva feeling to be prancing around in s wind tunnel. We're doing our best to fix the machinery. Honest. It's gonna be better in a while. Promise. Really. O.K.?

4
Oh, *! ** !

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ACCOUNTS; REALITY

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1
Accounts may be structurally simple, as in the case of a nod of the head, or complex, as in the case of "A History of the English Speaking People."

2
Encyclopaedias and informational archives are organized accounts of Reality presented in the academic register. Scientific and religious writings or teachings are accounts that get reformulated according to established procedures within each sub-culture.

3
All formulationss of reality are accounts: e.g. That there is an ultimate reality and man can "describe" it or parts of it, that there is no "ultimate reality", but only various formulations claiming to represent "it", etc.

4
Therefore from the point of view of a radical objectivity, Reality is the accounts.

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MEANING;

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1
The existence of a Reality other than the accounts that treat it as a topic, is a speculation, from the point of view of radical objectivity. Therefore, accounts have no "meaning" other than their transactional significance as indicated by the face claims they contain.

2
That utterances have "meaning" is a face claim within sanctioned accounts formulated by linguists, philosophers, and etc. Elaborations of this claim, have been formulated in accounts appearing in their writings and teachings. These elaboration include further claims such as the claim that people "communicate" when they talk, and collateral claims involving "the exchange of ideas" and "the expression of feelings."

3
However, from the point of view of a radical and objective ethno-methodology, accounts, no matter how involved, are accounts, and therefore, the claim that utterances have "meaning" is a claim, and is to be treated as other topics, not as "something special," or "real" or anything else.

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EXAMPLES OF SUBJECTIFYING AND OBJECTIFYING ASSERTIONS

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1
Examples of Subjectifying Assertions:

(1) You are angry with me.

(2) The Sun is 1/10,000 of a light year away.

(3) The common cold is caused by a virus.

(4) The rat's fear response is due to shock conditioning.

(5) The bridge will collapse with that load.

2
Examples of Objectifying Assertions:

(1) I am claiming that you are angry with me.

(2) Using this textbook's logival steps of inferencing, I derive the distance of the Sun as 1/10,000 of a light year.

(3) Doctors claim that medical research proves that the common cold is caused by a virus.

(4) In the logic of experimental psychology, what the rat is now doing is displaying "fear response" which is operationally derived from a "conditioning" procedure.

(5) According to engineering formulations, this bridge is predicted to collapse with this much of a load.

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SUBJECTIFYING AND OBJECTIFYING ASSERTIONS; EDUCATION

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1
Education is a process whereby those being educated acquire the skills necessary to topicalize in the academic register of the educated class. In this register, properly formulated accounts use subiectifying assertions,i.e. statements based on a cause - effect logic, time-bound and space-bound, according to culturalized versions of scientific common sense.

2
In the radically objective register, accounts use objectifying assertions, i.e. statements based on the radical logic of the hereand- now, according to objective observation and analysis deriving out of the sanctioned practices of participants in their transactions .

3
Subjectifying and objectifying assertions belong to radically different registers.

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MEANING; TRANSACTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE

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1
Consider the subjectifying, "I did it because I was angry." When displayed as a transactional move in a conversation, it is an account that contains three face claims: (a) I hereby claim that I did it; (b) I hereby claim that I was angry then; (c) I hereby claim that I believe the cause of my action to be my anger.

2
The utterance "I did it because I was angry" means "I did it because I was angry" and nothing else. It has transactional significance when it is displayed in a conversational exchange, but has no "meaning" beyond itself. "Meaning" is, thus, an empty notion, objectively examined.

3
Utterances, like all displays, have a function that is related to their transactional significance in the exchange, but they have no "meaning."

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