In short, of course one can plagiarize oneself, and does on a fairly regular basis when talking repeatedly about one topic in different situations. As for plagiarizing one’s writings, that’s a little grayer since one always has the choice of changing the nuance of one’s thoughts in writing by changing something as subtle as the punctuation, emphasis, grammatical structure, etc. I think the bigger question is do members of the Agora find the energy to be original in their thoughts or do they concede that the demands of life don’t provide enough time to think broadly and completely to form, change or otherwise construct a thought that might be different than the one that one has expressed before.
It’s not an earth-shaking problem for me since I am not in a position that affects public safety or security. But if we acknowledge that we copy ourselves, we might understand better the forces at work when we react positively or negatively to persons in positions of responsiblity who have the ability to think in layers and see the fine distinctions between an idea expressed in different ways, honestly or not, by others.

plagiarize
v. tr.

To use and pass off the ideas or writings of another as one’s own.
To appropriate for use as one’s own passages or ideas from another.

v. intr.
To put forth as original to oneself the ideas or words of another.

From plagiary plagiarist, from Latin plagiarius, literally, kidnapper, from plagium netting of game, kidnapping, from plaga net.

Thus, unless you use the royal "we" but are not the king, you can’t plagiarize yourself.

VB

[quote author=ptlevinson link=board=omni;num=1142183843;start=0#0 date=03/12/06 at 12:17:23]In short, of course one can plagiarize oneself, and does on a fairly regular basis when talking repeatedly about one topic in different situations.

Of course one cannot plagiarize oneself. As Bellator indicated, using that word in that sense is incongruous.

But if we acknowledge that we copy ourselves, we might understand better the forces at work when we react positively or negatively to persons in positions of responsiblity who have the ability to think in layers and see the fine distinctions between an idea expressed in different ways, honestly or not, by others.

Sure, we copy ourselves - at least I do. I’ve written many things on many subjects (not necessarily on this forum), some as a result of time-consuming research. When the topic comes up again, why would I start back at square one - or reinvent the wheel - (or try to think of another metaphor)? As to understanding better the "forces at work when [I] react…," why would I need to do that? If I’ve thought about and written about a topic before, it’s just efficient to revisit my previous writings as they may give me better ways of expressing current thoughts. Nothing more complex or profound than that.

To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use

another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;
any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of information—that are not common knowledge;
quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or
paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.
These guidelines are taken from the Student Code of Rights, Responsibilities

For Pete’s sake, plagerism is theft: see above it always says Another’s work. You can’t steal from  yourself.   What a silly thread.

to credit my source and to avoid charges of plagiarism: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

~N~