p.32-33 The concept of co-action owes a debt to Herbert Blumer's Symbolic interactionism: Perspective
and method (1969, New York: Prentice Hall), and to John Shotter's writings (especially, Action,
joint action and intentionality. In Brenner, M. (Ed.) (1980). The structure of action. Oxford: Oxford University
Press; Conversational realities, 1993, London: Sage), both of whom employ the concept of joint action.
p.33 More generally, it may be said that there is no action that has meaning in itself,
that is, an action that can be isolated and identified for what it is... only in coordinated action does meaning spring
to life.
p.53 As I proposed, it is through collaborative action that all meaning emerges.
p.93 Generative ideas emerge from joint thinking -Vera John-Steiner
p.202 As commonly defined, knowledge is a "clear and certain perception of fact or truth." ...Knowledge
is attained when the mind accurately reflects or pictures the reality or truth of the world.
p.220 It is one of the paradoxes of our time that ideas capable of transforming our societies, full of insights
about how the human animal actually behaves and thinks, are often presented in unreadable language. - Doris Lessing
p.224 Consider as well the position of the writer. Typically an article published in journals
in one's field will yield three reactions: First, a vast silence (most articles are read by only a fraction of one's colleagues);
second, congratulations by those who are favored by the writing; and finally, critique. In effect, one enters a void of non-being.
No one seems to care, and if they do, it is primarily in instrumental terms. You are liked if it helps them, chastised
if you don't (or, if your work constitutes a target that allows them to gain publications through attack). The
scholar confronts a condition of essential ambiguity... Affirmation of one's scholarship may hang on the existence
of a few close colleagues or students... The remainder of their colleagues are typically disinterested.
