ABSTRACT
What makes commands mandatory may be the superior force of the speaker to sanction the one ordered. But we also recognize as imperative the words of the sick and the dying. What makes directives obligatory may be some structure of the culture of which the speaker is the mouthpiece: the Japanese who invites the foreign visitor to take off his shoes before entering the house, the priest who orders in the name of divine law, or the ethical theorist who works out what is reasonable. But we also recognize as imperative words of foreigners and of those without scientific culture, and the nonsense of children, the laughter of adults, and the non wisdom of the aged.
