Jared Diamond - What is Intentionality?

00:08:34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT5RGXuCgyA

摘要

TLDRThe video delves into the understanding of agency, contrasting its perception in modern and traditional societies. In traditional societies, agency is often attributed to inanimate objects or natural occurrences, reflecting a broader concept of intentionality. For example, among the people of New Britain, agency is assigned to elements such as sinkholes, as they believe certain actions might provoke negative outcomes. This reflects a rule-based approach that dates back to learned experiences construed as maintaining safety or social compliance. The speaker shares personal anecdotes and historic examples, illustrating how societies, irrespective of their time or place, develop certain rules or superstitions based on perceived agency. Bismarck's story of a sentry guarding a crocus shows how practices can outlast their original rationales. The discussion emphasizes humanity's intrinsic nature to seek causes for events - whether rooted in scientific rationality or cultural beliefs, with traditional societies often integrating supernatural or spirit-based explanations.

心得

  • 🤔 Agency in traditional societies often extends beyond humans to inanimate objects.
  • 🤷‍♂️ Many traditional beliefs and rules originate from efforts to navigate a complicated world safely.
  • 🏰 A story from the Russian Court demonstrates how rules can persist long after their original purposes are forgotten.
  • 👥 Humans naturally search for causes for events, a trait seen across cultures.
  • 💭 Traditional societies don't distinguish between animate and inanimate agency like modern societies do.
  • 🌱 Rules are foundational in both traditional and modern societies, even when original purposes are forgotten.
  • 🧠 Personal experiences can lead to the creation of unique rules that individuals consistently follow.
  • 🌌 In ancient societies, nature and objects are often seen as possessing will or intentionality.
  • 🛑 Ignoring agency-related rules is often believed to result in harm or misfortune in traditional cultures.
  • 📜 The persistence of old rules suggests a deep human need for structure and order.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:08:34

    The discussion revolves around understanding the concept of agency, particularly how it is perceived across different societies. In traditional societies, agency is attributed not only to humans and intelligent animals but also to inanimate objects, unlike in modern societies where this concept is more reality-based. Examples from traditional cultures demonstrate how agency is extended to natural phenomena or objects like sinkholes or bridges, where rules are followed to prevent perceived dangers. This pattern stems from early human experiences and the instinct to maintain safety by adhering to learned behaviors, even if their original rationale has faded over time. The conversation explores how rules in various societies often originate from attributions of agency, impacting the way people interact with the world.

思维导图

Mind Map

常见问题

  • What is agency in the context of traditional societies?

    In traditional societies, agency is often attributed to inanimate objects and natural phenomena, as they are believed to have intentionality or spirit.

  • How do traditional societies' views of agency differ from modern views?

    Traditional societies attribute agency broadly, including inanimate objects, unlike modern societies which typically attribute agency to humans and animals.

  • Why do some societies attribute agency to inanimate objects?

    Attributing agency to inanimate objects can stem from cultural beliefs and historical practices that are passed down to prevent harm or maintain social norms.

  • What example shows how agency is attributed to inanimate objects in traditional societies?

    The people of New Britain attribute agency to sinkholes and believe specific actions can lead to negative consequences if not respected.

  • How do rules associated with agency affect individuals in any society?

    Individuals follow traditional rules to make sense of the world and ensure safety, even if the original reasons for these rules are forgotten.

  • Why are rules followed even if their purpose is unclear?

    People follow traditional rules to maintain social order and personal safety, based on learned experience and cultural inheritance.

  • Is attributing agency to objects common in modern societies?

    Modern societies typically do not attribute agency to inanimate objects, focusing more on scientific explanations for events.

  • How do personal experiences influence one's perception of agency?

    People often form personal rules based on past experiences and learn to attribute caution to certain behaviors, even without logical reasons.

  • What story illustrates forgotten origins of traditional rules?

    Bismarck’s anecdote about the Russian Court’s sentry, placed to protect a crocus, shows how rules persist long after their original purpose is forgotten.

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  • 00:00:00
    jaren in trying to understand the nature
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    of intentionality agency the search for
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    agency that we as human beings do what
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    can we learn not from an abstract
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    philosophical analysis what can we learn
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    from study of diverse societies
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    particularly historically as we've seen
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    the development of of our species from
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    diverse societies we learn that the
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    concept of agency is often much broader
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    particularly in traditional societies
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    than in our modern society today we you
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    and I would attribute agency to human
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    beings and to a much lesser extent to
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    animals to intelligent animals but in I
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    would say all traditional societies
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    agency is also attributed to things that
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    you and I would call inanimate for
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    example among those cow people of New
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    Britain who have the practice of of
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    widow strangling there will also
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    attribute a agency to say to sinkholes
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    that you should not say sir this is an
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    earring where there a lot of sinkholes
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    and that you should not do certain
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    things because the sinkhole may collapse
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    unto you you should not walk a man
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    should not walk over a bridge if a woman
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    walked over that bridge at a certain
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    stage in a menstrual cycle because the
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    bridge also will have its own issues
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    you should not skip a stone over the
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    water they get very upset if you skip a
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    stone across the wall well yeah I grew
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    up in in the lakes of New Hampshire we
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    would skip a stone and try to sit who
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    could you get a skip an hour get very
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    upset if you try to skip a stone at all
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    they're like oh because they believe
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    that that will cause bad things to
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    happen it will they trace the Genesis
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    and that no no no the Genesis is not is
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    nobody knows here are these beliefs and
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    once you acquire the beliefs
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    once you figure out how to operate in
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    the world the world is dangerous place
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    once you've figured out how to operate
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    safely you don't tinker with those
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    beliefs because if you start skipping
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    stones and you do 17 other things one of
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    those 17 things may cause the sinkhole
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    to drop in on you and so you follow the
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    rules well well we in the United States
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    also follow rules but some of the
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    nonsensical but we follow rules because
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    we learn early that to make sense of a
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    complicated world you follow certain
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    rules and you carry out those rules even
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    though they may not I'll give a really
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    stupid simple example I learned the rule
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    that when I take a shower and when I'm
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    when I'm rinsing off I rinse off as
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    quickly as possible from my head then
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    after the recipe I learned that I over
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    generalized one case when I was renting
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    a house in 1968 my landlord and his wife
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    got into a divorce dispute and they
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    stopped paying the water bills and so I
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    got into the shower and I soaked myself
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    down and the water stopped running so
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    that I couldn't rinse myself off and
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    ever since then it's now what 43 years
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    later whenever I'm in a shower I've over
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    generalize and I behave as if the water
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    in the shower might get turned off it
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    probably will not get turned off but
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    that's one of my rules cooperating in
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    life not going to revisit that and so
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    what happens in that in that process we
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    have all of these rules of ways to to to
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    deal with the world and it seems like
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    most of them have an origin with some
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    kind of agency because there has to be
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    some intentionality that we're looking
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    into these things because that that
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    makes it causation that makes it having
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    some effect on the world which are have
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    an effect on me so those are those
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    origins in any society so there are
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    thousands of rules for how to operate
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    and some of the rules you can understand
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    the purpose and some of the rules you
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    don't know the purpose but the rule is
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    handed down as a traditional rule you
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    know you don't question the rules but
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    they're they're inherited a wonderful
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    example on the the the German statement
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    Bismarck told the following story to
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    help you understand czars
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    when bismarck was ambassador to the
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    Russian Court he noticed that there was
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    in the big palace ground there was a
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    block house with a century the century
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    was there day and night and he asked why
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    is the Sentry there in this remote part
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    of the palace grams and nobody knew the
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    answer and eventually they found some
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    some old guard who knew the answer and
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    the old guard said the two generations
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    ago a the first focus of the year came
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    up there and the sardina
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    put a guard there so that that crocus
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    would not be uprooted and that's our
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    Meena died and the next guards died and
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    seven years later nobody remembered my
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    idea was that a guard house yeah but so
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    one person with him that's just an
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    example of a society's woes whose
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    purpose has been forgotten but to
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    function on the side we can't constantly
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    question why we just and and how
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    important is the attribution of agency
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    reasons things that that that are
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    positive that relate to manner of
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    persons is the right word but something
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    with a will we're always looking for
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    something with a will or to justify our
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    reasons for doing things we're
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    constantly looking for causes the the
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    the essence of humanity is the constant
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    search for for causes the causes may be
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    causes in the behavior of other people
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    we learn that if we do a certain thing
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    someone else may behave in another way
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    but so we have an accident when when we
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    have when I have an accident I'm asking
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    what did I do to produce the accident
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    did I stand on the shower on one foot I
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    gotta learn not to stand on the shower
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    on one foot about a month ago while
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    driving with my wife at night I drove my
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    car into a gas station up onto curb and
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    I didn't notice the curb and I destroyed
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    a tire ever since then I've been asking
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    myself so what am I going to do to drive
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    more carefully at night now
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    I got to be more careful I have must
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    constantly ask myself to look out for
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    curbs and to look out for doggy areas
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    and look out for cause I'm constantly
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    looking for causes for things that might
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    happen and that's the essence of being
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    human and coping with it so would you
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    say that looking for causes is the
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    larger set and within that set a smaller
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    subset but still important is looking
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    for causes that have an agency component
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    because some things that are caused are
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    in the inanimate world and others are
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    caused by some kind of a a will some
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    kind of an agency behind it either
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    one that's real like another person
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    doing something or something that we
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    imagine looking for something
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    supernatural as it were nowadays those
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    of us with a scientific background would
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    search for agency and would would
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    distinguish between living beings that
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    have agency and inanimate things that
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    don't have agency but traditional
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    societies don't make that distinction
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    between animate agency and in an agency
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    that rock up there if you do the wrong
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    thing that rock will fall on you with
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    that tree I would say the tree doesn't
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    have agency but beginning would say if
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    you do such and such a thing the tree is
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    like we took to fall on you in effect
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    though I behave as if everything has
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    agency in the sense of having causes
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    yeah it when I stand on the stepladder I
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    don't believe that the step ladder has
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    agency but I've learned by reading
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    newspapers that one of the Communist
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    causes of bad end of life is standing on
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    step ladders that I treat step ladders
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    as if they have agency mainly are the
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    rules for standing for dealing with them
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    and I'm not going to question those
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    rules
标签
  • agency
  • traditional societies
  • cultural beliefs
  • inanimate objects
  • superstition
  • rules
  • intentionality
  • modern society
  • Bismarck story
  • cause and effect