[MD] Keep on Truckin'

[david buchanan]

Arlo said:
...The key is seeing that these structures both enable the agency of the driver as well as constrain it. Our range of agency is not merely constrained by structure, the structure provides the opportunity for agency as well.  ...So we are constrained by the road, but at the same time the road enables us to travel.   Of course, all this (structure and agency) are not "fixed", but evolving mutually, structures change and adapt as agency is applied, and in turn agency changes and adapts as structures change.


dmb says:
Yes, that's a very clear and simple way to put it. We are constrained AND enabled by the structures of thought and language. We couldn't walk at all without legs and yet legs have their limits, about 22 miles per hour if memory serves. Planes, trains and automobiles enable greater speeds and distances but also come with limits and restraints. These structures are what we'd call static patterns. We could say the motorcycle mechanic is constrained and controlled by the precise demands of her machine AND that precision is what enables her to fly across the landscape. In this way, freedom grows out of order, is enabled by order.
Kuhn observed this with respect to scientific revolutions. Those kinds of changes are ushered in by people who are thoroughly saturated and wholly familiar the existing patterns. It takes a lot of discipline to be a maverick.