'Texts: A case study of joint action'

Abstract: 

Our linguistic communication often takes the form of creating texts or documents with meaning. In this paper, I and Alois Pichler propose that creating texts or texting is a form of joint action. We examine the nature and evolution of this joint action. We argue that creating texts ushers in a special type of joint action, which while lacking some central features of normal, everyday joint actions, nonetheless results in a strong and unique type of joint action agency. This type of agency is already present in creating texts in general and is further augmented in creating texts through digital media. We propose that such a unique type of joint action agency has a transformative effect on the phenomenology of our sense of agency and subjectivity. We conclude with the implications of the proposal for social cognition and social agency.