[lit-ideas] Re: Is a computer program a performative?
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 14:43:45 +0900
On 2004/08/07, at 1:24, Peter D. Junger wrote:
> As long as we are discussing performatives, is a computer
> program---which is often defined as ``a set of intstructions
> to be performed by a computer''---a performative. Or a
> series of performatives?
>
> Does it make a difference whether the computer is a human being,
> as they used to be when I was young, or a gadget?
If we accept as a definition of performative Austin's description in
_How to Do Things With Words_, a computer's instruction is not a
performative since it either works or fails to work regardless of
social context. Austin's description applies to utterances the uttering
of which results in new social facts, provided that is that (1) the
speaker is properly qualified, (2) the setting is appropriate, and (3)
any other relevant procedural rules are followed. Thus, to use the
classic example, when (1) a properly ordained minister utters the
words, "I now pronounce you man and wife" in (2) the context of a
wedding which is (3) properly licensed, no objection having been
raised, and the bride and groom have made their vows of their own free
will, the result is a legally binding marriage--a stubbornly real
social fact, indeed, as anyone familiar with divorce courts can attest.
There has, of course, been a good deal of nonsense written by those who
conflate "performative" and "performance" and go wandering off into
conceptual thickets far from this sort of prototypical example. When
one has reached the point where "performative" is simply another way of
saying that something is done with language, whatever the doing
consists of, then--why the hell not--the computer's instruction does
more useful work than most of the idle chatter we hear.
John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
"Making Symbols is Our Business"
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