| Chapter 13: Relations |

| 13.6. Making reciprocal relations

The relationships described in this chapter so far are by no means always reciprocated. For instance, if a stone is on a table, then it is never true that the table is also on the stone. And the question may not even be meaningful to ask. If Peter wears a jacket, the jacket does not even have the possibility of wearing Peter.

But sometimes we do want a relation which works both ways equally well. These are simple to set up:

> Meeting relates people to each other.

The effect is that various people know various other people, and this is always reciprocated. If Daisy knows Sophie then, automatically, Sophie knows Daisy. This even-handedness is maintained throughout play, so that whatever changes are made it is always true that if A knows B then B knows A.

And similarly for a reciprocal relation between one and another:

> Marriage relates one person to another.

In this case, we can again give a name to the partner under a relation:

> Marriage relates one person to another (called the spouse).

and now, for instance, we may have that the spouse of John is Yoko and the spouse of Yoko is John.

Since many of these examples have involved people, it might be worth mentioning again that any kind can be involved, not just the "person" kind.

181
| Example Four Cheeses A system of telephones on which the player can call distant persons and have conversations.

Previous | Contents | Next