Description:

Two-Tracked Conversations
 
We sometimes two-track our conversations.  That is, we seem to have two conversations with each other simultaneously: an official, overt, and out-in-the-open one and an unofficial, covert, and shadowy one.  What’s the point of this?  Here I argue that successful two-tracking itself is a form of communication.  When we two-track with each other, we show each other that we can and will two-track with each other.  By directly showingour capacities and preference structure to each other, we thereby credibly communicate socially important information about ourselves.  If I am right, then philosophers have been working with an overly simplistic notion of conversational organization.  Conversations are not just organized to facilitate our shared discursive goals.  Sometimes, the way we organize our conversations is itself the point.  It's a form of communication in its own right.