Ossorio: "On the equivalence of deliberate action and participation in social practices, think of behaviors like torturing a cat, picking one’s nose, and biting one’s nails. All are intelligible. All are Deliberate Actions. But are they the done things in a community? Are they participations in social practices?"

Two things. The notion of the ‘done thing’ is susceptible to a bad interpretation, namely, that it’s commonly done. And I think that’s what lies behind this question. These things are not commonly done in the community. But a social practice doesn’t have to be commonly done. It just has to exist there.

Now the other thing is remember what I said today about the systematic possibilities. They are not common behaviors, but aren’t they obviously possibilities within the range of possibilities of human life? Of course. So when I said today that that explanation is more fundamental because it’s more systematic, it gives entrée to a broader range of things... Remember I said "Yeah, it’s stretching a little to say that every individual behavior has to be part of a pattern", and here’s a case in point. But if you think in terms of the systematic possibilities, then there’s no issue here.