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plan
plan
+
1
3
1
Y
3
2
2
could produce
X
X
Figure 2.10
The potential for Delegation
As an example of weak and passive but already social delegation, which is the simplest
form of social delegation, consider a hunter who is waiting and is ready to shoot an
arrow at a bird flying towards its nest. In his plan the hunter includes an action of the
bird: to fly in a specific direction; in fact, this is why he is not pointing at the bird but at
where the bird will be in a second. He is delegating an action in his plan to the bird; and
the bird is unconsciously and (of course) unintentionally collaborating with the hunter's
plan.
(ii) In a slightly stronger form of delegation (
mild delegation
)
X
is herself eliciting, inducing
the desired behavior of
Y
to exploit it. Depending on the reactive or deliberative character
of
Y
, the induction is just based on some stimulus or is based on beliefs and complex
types of influence.
(iii)
Strong delegation
is based on
Y
s awareness of
X
's intention to exploit his action; normally
it is based on
Y
s adopting
X
's goal (for any reason: love, reciprocation, common interest,
etc.), possibly after some negotiation (request, offer, etc.) concluded by some agreement
and social commitment.
The Act of Delegation
Notice that weak delegation is just a mental operation or action, and a mental representation.
X
's external action is just waiting for or abstaining from doing the delegated action or doing
her own part of the plan. On the contrary, in (ii) and (iii) delegation is an external action of
X
on
Y
, which affects
Y
and induces him to do the allocated task. Here to delegate means to
bring it about that
Y
brings it about that
p
.If
E
X
(p)
represents the operator '
to bring it about
that
', indicating with
X
the subject of the action and
p
the state resulting of
X
's action, we
have the situation shown in Table 2.3.
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