ABSTRACT
The simplest introduction to reflexivity involves the contrast between two types of propositional statements. Consider, for example, the following propositions: people drive cars by following the rules of the road; and people drive cars in ways that produce and maintain the conditions that allow them to drive in those ways. Statement one seems to make an empirical claim—namely, that people drive cars by following the rules of the road. Statement two is self-referential: it claims that however drivers' drive, those ways of driving allow them to drive in those ways. Self-referential speech is only interesting when it's forced upon people by the phenomena that it attempts to describe. The theme of "reflexivity," the orientation to reflexive phenomena, and the research directive to find such phenomena all refer to the witnessable "self-referential" and "reflexive" character of observable practices. Four-way stop intersections provide a perspicuous setting for examining the reflexivity of practical action and reasoning.
