ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the organization and development of discursive practices for having a theory, starting with a fragment of problem-based learning instruction then turning to a comparison with E. Ochs et al.'s analysis of theory building in dinnertime conversations. In studies of learning and teaching, it may be helpful to pursue a notion of consequentiality that looks at both the organization and development of technoscientific practices. Three phenomena are relevant to understanding how people and brains get organized for having a theory during Betty's extended turn at talk. First, the theory is authored by multiple agents, brought together in the voice of a single speaker. Second, the theory rests implicitly on the organization of The Brain and its mapping onto the particular brain of a patient. Third, the articulated assembly of a patient's brain, a clinical syndrome, and generic brain structures involves considerable uncertainty.
