practical constraint

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A constraint is a circumstance or a restriction that - actually or supposedly not changeable - restricts a decision-making field .

An alleged constraint sometimes serves as a reason why political decision-makers have acted against their (actual or supposed) convictions (“I would like to, but there is a constraint”).

In this sense, Horst Rittel described in 1976 on Deutschlandfunk. practical constraint as an abbreviated syllogism with enthymeme . The deontic premise for the deontic conclusion is not mentioned. This creates the impression that a fact results in an obligation to act. "It's raining, so I have to take the umbrella with me."

A classic discussion of practical constraints from a sociological point of view was Helmut Schelsky's 1961 lecture Man in Scientific Civilization .

From a psychological point of view, a practical constraint is the tendency to restrict the possibilities for action that an individual has or believes to have in a particular situation. Practical constraints can develop from material details of the situation (e.g. extreme temperature) or be socially determined (e.g. pressure to perform); they represent (as a rule) a restriction of individual freedom . The proportion of the individually responsible action variants is reduced by practical constraints in favor of the influence of the situation conditions. From a psychological point of view, the individual is pushed to a certain sequence of actions from the outside without really wanting it himself.

Constraints in rhetoric

In rhetoric , indefinite “practical constraints” are often used as Red Herring .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Horst WJ Rittel: Constraints - excuses for being tired of making decisions? .in: Thinking Design. Ed. by Wolf D. Reuter and Wolfgang Jonas, Birkhäuser, Basel 2013, ISBN 978-3-038-21066-5 , pp. 240-250 (script of the radio broadcast 1967).
  2. Helmut Schelsky : In search of reality . Goldmann, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-442-11217-6 , pp. 439-480 (reprint of the Düsseldorf edition 1965).