person
also known as Follett
American management theorist of the 1920s, present in the series for one phrase — the law of the situation, which McLuhan borrowed and Bob Dobbs reads as a ground formulation arrived at from business consulting. Bob's p.134 uses it to mark where most readers stop: treating the medium as mere context rather than as sensory shaping. New to her — dialogue 65.
Across the dialogues
65
Enters as the source of a phrase McLuhan borrowed twice — the law of the situation, which Bob reads as a medium-is-the-message figure/ground in management dress
The formula is given a non-literary and non-philosophical origin, which is part of Bob's case that McLuhan's material was lying around in plain sight.
"a business consultant in the 20s, Mary Parker Follett, came up with a sort of a medium as a message figure ground situation, which she called the law of the situation."Bob Dobbs, The Resonant Interval, Dialogue 65 (16 Feb 2023), 1:19:14
The phrase is glossed and then immediately shown to be a trap — the same question that opens the medium can freeze it into a concept.
"The law of the situation is an answer evoked by the question, what's the context?"Bob Dobbs, The Resonant Interval, Dialogue 65 (16 Feb 2023), 1:19:25
Connections
connects toMarshall McLuhan
McLuhan used her phrase, the law of the situation, once or twice.