Intersubjective Anticipation: Accountability, Anticipation, and Conversation as a Zero-Sum Game or, the (Real) Pleasures of a Pluralistic Society

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is fourfold. The first is theoretical: to show how the Commonality and Sociality corollaries can be connected in a new theoretical construct, “intersubjective anticipation.” The second is to explore the applicability of this new construct, and to demonstrate its usefulness, by focusing on the analysis of a single factor in its functioning. The third is to address a major theoretical issue within PCP, that of how the defining act of the Kellian subject, anticipation, is actually performed. The fourth is to show how these theoretical musings are relevant to some of the most urgent issues in present-day multicultural societies. These aims are pursued through a systematic demonstration of the workings of a theoretical construct by US sociologist Harvey Sacks, “accountable/not accountable.”