Abstract

1. WechselwirkungSuppose that A is standing at a bar with his friend B and tells B, “I’ll give you a dollar to fight the man on the side of you”. B, naturally, answers: “Are you crazy? Even if I win, I’ll probably tear my clothes, or mess them up. A dollar wouldn’t even cover the dry-cleaning bill.” B is very sensible.But then C starts to pick up B’s change on the bar—about a dollar’s worth. “You can’t do that,” B assures him, emphatically. C says, “Who says?” “Oh yeah?”s get traded, then shoulders pushed in rotation—and before you know it, B is fighting for a dollar after all.But now, B will assure us, the money does not matter, it’s the principle of the thing. What principle? “That no one can steal from me, no matter what the amount.” But the man picking up the change thought it was his; no principle about stealing existed in his mind. “Well, I don’t want the idea to get around that anyone can take things from me.” So C is suffering proleptically for all the people who might feel tempted to engage in C-like activities . But what if C’s calamity does not get around to all the bars? What, that is, if future Cs do not know about the educational improvements B has effected on C’s nose? “They might not know, but I would.” B, it appears, can have no pride in himself unless he fights over one-dollar misunderstandings