Type: Node / Institutional Unit of Action
Placement note: Act is placed as a short entry because it is definitionally subordinate to Action (the agent-side concept) and Event (the occurrence concept). Act is what action becomes when it crosses into the institutional domain — it is a derived, registration-grade concept rather than a primary operator. The encyclopedia uses "Act" throughout as a technical term; this entry provides its formal definition.
Working Definition: An act is an action performed in a recognizable form that is capable of being counted, recorded, authorized, or judged within an institutional grammar — the unit of doing that institutions work with.
Formal Tag
Act(α) ::= Action(α*) recognized as institutionally countable/recordable/authorizable/judgeable
Minimal fields for a well-formed Act:
Actor: who performed it
Act-type: what class of doing it is
Timestamp: when it occurred
AuthoritySource: what authorized it (or: unauthorized)
Status: what it produced or is now in
ActTypes:
DecisionAct | RecognitionAct | CommitmentAct | StatusUpdateAct
ConstitutionalAct | EnactmentAct | RepairAct | AmendmentAct
DraftingAct | ReviewAct | PublicationAct | ...
What it attaches to
An act is performed by an agent occupying a role within an institution. It enters the institution's grammar when it is:
- Recognized — the institution acknowledges it as a valid instance of an act type
- Recorded — it enters the ledger with its minimal fields
- Authorized — its authority source is traceable
- Judged — it is evaluated by the institution as valid, invalid, within scope, or in breach
Contrast
| Action | Act |
|---|---|
| Agent-side: the doing | Institution-side: the registered unit of doing |
| May be unrecognized | Is recognized (or contestably recognized) |
| May be unrecorded | Enters the ledger |
| May lack authority | Has an authority source (or is flagged as unauthorized) |
| Prior to institutional processing | After institutional recognition |
An act without recognition is still an action. A recognized action that is not recorded is an act with a ledger gap. A recorded action without an authority source is a provisionally valid act with a provenance problem.
Examples
| Domain | Action | Act |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial | Writing a draft | The draft becomes an act (DraftingAct) when offered to the editorial institution and recorded as a draft in the ledger |
| Law | Speaking in court | The testimony becomes an act when recognized and recorded in the court record |
| Governance | Casting a ballot | The ballot becomes an act (VotingAct) when the institution counts it as a valid vote |
| Digital governance | A model assistant generates output | The output becomes an act (InferenceAct) when wrapped in a receipt and recorded with its authority source |
Ambiguity notes
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Institutional act vs. ordinary act. In ordinary language, "act" may mean any action. In this grammar, "act" specifically means action that has crossed into institutional relevance: recognized, recordable, authorizable. An agent's private behavior is an action; the same behavior performed in an institutional context and recorded is an act.
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Act type and act instance. Act types define categories (DecisionAct, CommitmentAct); act instances are specific occurrences. The grammar uses Act(α) to refer to a specific instance and Act-type(T) to refer to the category that T belongs to.
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Model outputs and acts. AI-generated outputs are not institutional acts merely by being produced; they become acts only if registered or recognized through the relevant institutional grammar — wrapped in a receipt, attributed to an authorized authority source, and recorded in the ledger where durability or accountability is required.
Cross-References
- Action — act is what action becomes when institutionally registered; action is prior and broader
- Event — events occur without agents; acts are agent-performed and institutionally registered
- Institution — institutions are what make actions into acts; the grammar within which acts are recognized
- Recognition — the operation that takes an action and makes it an institutionally valid act
- Authority — every act requires an authority source; acts without traceable authority are flagged or unauthorized
- Role — acts are performed from within roles; the role's authority is what authorizes the act
- Ledger — durable acts are recorded in the ledger; the ledger is the medium through which acts persist
- Count-As — Count-As is the operator that governs what an act counts as within an institution