[Mark] It depends on how one sees freedom. Let me ask you this: Do we live in a world of bondage that we are trying to instill freedom, or do we live in a world of freedom in which we succumb to bondage? Your essay below suggest the former, whereas, the latter seems much more reasonable.
[Arlo] My words suggest nothing about "freedom" or "bondage", as this sets up an false dichotomy. My words point out that human agency is as bound to structure as structure is a product of human agency. "Bondage" is mistaking the structure for being solely constraining. "Freedom" is mistaking that our range of agency is independent of structure. [Mark] We spend (at least) 14 years or so being indoctrinated into the bondage of words and the social level. [Arlo] We assimilate a cultural milieu, and this provides us with a far richer field of agency than a feral human devoid of "words and the social level". [Mark] The structures do not enable or constrain anything. They can be dismissed with the blink of an eye. [Arlo] If you think you can dismiss the network of roads "with the blink of an eye" and not have your agency in movement reduced, think again. [Mark] The road is not an agency with any power, simply a road that we build. [Arlo] I did not say the road had agency. I said the road is a structure, created by human agency, that both constrains and enables greater human agency. [Mark] If we allow that which we build to dominate us, then freedom is lost. This is most true of any government. [Arlo] We are freer with government than we would be in a state of anarchy. Or rather, or range of potential is greater in a governed society than living in one without such structure. [Mark] I do not see the structure and agency as co-evolving. I see them as two counter currents who's friction brings about our reality. [Arlo] And that is your problem, in a nutshell. I don't have time to do it justice, but take a look at the Wikipedia entry on "Structuration". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuration Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
