UML14 — UML 2 issue, Common Behaviors

Behaviors: objects that don't exist?

At 13.1 we read:

"Behaviors, as such, do not exist on their own, and they do not communicate. ... (Note that an executing behavior may itself be an object, however.)"

It is not clear what this is intended to mean. To the untutored reader it seems to be a contradiction.

What a behavior is and what a behavior execution is is fundamental to this half of UML. Whatever is intended should be spelled out clearly for the reader, very clearly.

see above