February 12, 2003

Agency

Duranti: "by speaking we establish a reality that has at least the potential for affecting whoever happens to be listening to us... we not only affect the mind and future actions of our listeners by providing new information about the world (e.g. the house is on fire! This cheese is scrumptious), we also affect them when we repeat what our listener already knows (e.g. we live in a democracy; Rome wasn't built in a day; I used to know you when you were this tall)."

Definition: "Agency is understood as the property of those entities

1. that have some degree of control over their own behavior [volitionality]
2. whose actions in the world affect other entities' (and sometimes their own) [causation]
3. whose actions are the object of evaluation [responsibility]"

Syntactically, agents are usually realized as the subject of their clause (if the sentence is active) or with the preposition by (if the sentence is passive).

Not all subjects are interpreted as agents, however. Compare:

• I made her dance
• I watched her dance
• I saw her dance
• She appeared to be dancing

In particular, subjects of transitive clauses (clauses where the verb has an object like watch, see) are more agentive than subjects of intransitive clauses (with verbs like appear).

Socially, an agent is typically ascribed responsibility for the action. Compare:

• I dropped the book
• The book fell (from my hand)
• I lost the book
• The book got lost (or "the book is lost")

Mitigation of agency

All languages have means for "suppressing" the expression of agency.

• Agentless passives (a TA telling a class why the textbooks aren't available)
  • The books came in and they were sent back. There was a mistake and they were sent back and they had to be sent again.
    
    
• Nominalizations
  • A brief justification for funds in each budget category should be provided... A brief explanation of the need for each requested item and of the choice of specified models should be provided. Arrangements for the maintenance and operating expenses of requested equipment should be described. If internships are planned, the willingness to participate of the host organization and of the individual mentors (if known) should be documented.
    
    
• Possessive constructions
  • John's speech was very long vs. John gave a very long speech
    
    
• Metaphors involving non-human entities "treated as" agents (actual human participants are let off the hook):
  • A huge falling tree injured 20 people at Disney's Frontierland on Friday...
  • Rents jumped to record highs in Southland...
  • Arbitration claims against brokerage firms jumped sharply in April...
  • Tight security will keep the insects in.
  • Those funds helped support party activities...
  • The decision dealt another blow to claims by former senior TRW engineer Nina Schwartz...

Causal chains

Sometimes the choice of an agent depends on how we interpret the causality, or "causal chain", of an event. The same event can be construed in more than one way. Consider the following examples:

• The boy threw a baseball. The baseball hit the window. The window broke.
• The boy broke the window with a baseball.
• The baseball broke the window.
• The window broke.

From a CNN discusssion board (http://community.cnn.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@171.wt8ueDe0bf9^0@.eef0a81)

(CNN) -- Belgium could be the next country to change its laws on mercy killing following the Dutch decision to legalise euthanasia. Belgium, which has a bill before parliament that would partly decriminalise euthanasia, has been closely following events in The Netherlands.

The Dutch decision on Tuesday, April 10, to allow doctors to kill patients with terminal diseases who are suffering "unbearably" and if they request it has prompted angry protests. But the move has been welcomed by campaigners and political leaders in The Netherlands, which is the first country in the world to allow mercy killings.

Australian physician proposes euthanasia boat April 11, 2001 Web posted at: 11:31 AM EDT (1531 GMT)

SYDNEY, Australia -- An Australian physician is planning to moor a ship outside the country's territorial waters for use as a base to help terminally ill people die

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well, this is typical of the sick s*** this type of law leads to....

A prime example of how tacky people can get......

Ralph Begley - Tuesday, 04/17/01, 6:56:04pm (#183 of 200)

I have the right to say anything I wish, own firearms, vote, get married, get divorced, file bankruptcy, drink alcohol, consume tobacco, have children, attend college, choose a career, decide to retire, and now I can't decide that enough is enough? Sounds to me like american legislators forgot one.

Gareth Pinnock - Thursday, 04/19/01, 10:24:58am (#189 of 200)

I do not pretend to know all about this matter, but surely if the patient has expressed the wish that he or she wishes to end the suffering, we should respect that wish.

It might sound heartless, but surely if a patient wants to die, it is a waste of time, money and effort to keep that person alive. Surely the money and effort could be better used to heal those who want to live?

Freedom of speech is a big issue, what about freedom of will?

Jerry Starkey - Wednesday, 04/18/01, 7:40:46pm (#186 of 200)

Yes , this is wonderful. We kill unborn babies now we want to kill old people. Who will be next? The handycapped. If these people were so ready to die, they would commit sucide. Not place the doctor into the position of being a killer. Jerry