[lit-ideas] Re: Practical Logic

Again I thank Torgeir for clarifying Bourdieu's project. When I read,
"For instance, we often hear commentaries to televised soccer games where
someone mutters that 'there was chaos in the defence before the goal was
conceded,' when on closer scrutiny we might find that each of the defending
players were acting in accordance with a carefully rehearsed and thought-out
logic of practice. The goal was conceded not as a result of illogical soccer
practice but in spite of carefully crafted actions by all those involved.
Does this mean that formal logic has no place in soccer practice?"

the thought that pops into my head is that, while formal logic may have a
role to play in the strategy session or post-game commentary, it doesn't on
the field, where the "fog of war" that accompanies all serious competition
upsets even the best-laid plans.

I am also reminded of "the Beer Game" described by Peter Senghe in _The
Fifth Discipline Workbook_. The Beer Game is a management training game in
which players are assigned the roles of retailer, distributor, and factory
and asked to respond to a situation in which advertising leads to a spike in
demand. In what appears to be a predictable result, the retailer, seeing
demand rising orders more beer from the distributor, the distributor
increases orders to the factory, and the factory ramps up production. The
problem is that the spike is a spike. Demand recedes as quickly as it has
risen, and given the time lag between orders and fulfillment everyone winds
up with too much beer. Senghe comments that everyone involved behaves
perfectly rationally as an economic actor in light of his current situation
at the moment decisions are made. It is their failure to consider the
systemic consequences of their choices (like corporations neglecting the
external costs of their operations) that leads to the "irrational" result.

Torgeir also makes an important point when he writes,

>
>
> It may be fruitful to draw attention to the distinction in Bourdieu
> between the practical sense of lay people and the scholastic attitude of the
> social scientist.


On the one hand Bourdieu envisions an academic sitting in his study and
proceeding in accord with the canon's of rational choice: laying out the
options side by side and making a calculated choice. The soccer metaphor
points to the less privileged and far more common situation in which
judgments have to be made on the basis of inadequate information, under time
pressure that precludes the systematic search for gathering and analyzing
additional evidence. The coach's plan may be perfectly logical; the player's
implementation is not, depending on rapid scanning, pattern recognition, and
fast reflexes instead of the calculation that would leave him looking
foolish while his opponents scored a goal.

John



-- 
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/

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