|
|
| (3 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| | <div class="nonumtoc">__TOC__</div> | | <div class="nonumtoc">__TOC__</div> |
| | + | |
| | + | ==Discussion== |
| | | | |
| | ==Work Area== | | ==Work Area== |
| − |
| |
| − | ===1.3.===
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ====1.3.5. Discussion of Formalization : Specific Objects====
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <pre>
| |
| − | If inquiry begins in doubt, then inquiry into inquiry begins in
| |
| − | doubt about doubt. All things considered, the formula "y_0 = y y"
| |
| − | has to be taken as the first attempt at a description of the problem,
| |
| − | a hypothesis about the nature of inquiry, or an image that is tossed out
| |
| − | by way of getting an initial fix on the object in question. Everything in
| |
| − | this account so far, and everything else that I am likely to add, can only
| |
| − | be reckoned as hypothesis, whose accuracy, pertinence, and usefulness can
| |
| − | be tested, judged, and redeemed only after the fact of proposing it and
| |
| − | after the facts to which it refers have themselves been gathered up.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | A number of problems present themselves due to the context in which
| |
| − | the present inquiry is aimed to present itself. The hypothesis that
| |
| − | suggests itself to one person, as worth exploring at a particular time,
| |
| − | does not always present itself to another person as worth exploring at
| |
| − | the same time, or even necessarily to the same person at another time.
| |
| − | In a community of inquiry that extends beyond an isolated person and
| |
| − | in a process of inquiry that extends beyond a singular moment in time,
| |
| − | it is therefore necessary to consider the nature of the communication
| |
| − | process that the discussion of inquiry in general and the discussion of
| |
| − | formalization in particular need to invoke for their ultimate utility.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Solitude and solipsism are no solution to the problems of community and
| |
| − | communication, since even an isolated individual, if ever there was, is,
| |
| − | or comes to be such a thing, has to maintain the lines of communication
| |
| − | that are required to integrate past, present, and prospective selves --
| |
| − | in other words, translating everything into present terms, the parts of
| |
| − | one's actually present self that involve actual experiences and present
| |
| − | observations, do present expectations as reflective of actual memories,
| |
| − | and do present intentions as reflective of actual hopes. Consequently,
| |
| − | the dialogue that one holds with oneself is every bit as problematic
| |
| − | as the dialogue that one enters with others. Others only surprise
| |
| − | one in other ways than one ordinarily surprises oneself.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | I recognize inquiry as beginning with a "surprising phenomenon" or
| |
| − | a "problematic situation", more briefly described as a "surprise"
| |
| − | or a "problem", respectively. These are the types of moments that
| |
| − | try our souls, the instances of events that instigate inquiry as
| |
| − | an effort to achieve their own resolution. Surprises and problems
| |
| − | are experienced as afflicted with an irritating uncertainty or a
| |
| − | compelling difficulty, one that calls for a response on the part
| |
| − | of the agent in question:
| |
| − |
| |
| − | 1. A "surprise" calls for an explanation to resolve the
| |
| − | uncertainty that is present in it. This uncertainty
| |
| − | is associated with a difference between observations
| |
| − | and expectations.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | 2. A "problem" calls for a plan of action to resolve the
| |
| − | difficulty that is present in it. This difficulty is
| |
| − | associated with a difference between observations and
| |
| − | intentions.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | To express this diversity in a unified formula: Both types of inquiry
| |
| − | begin with a "delta", a compact term that admits of expansion as a debt,
| |
| − | a difference, a difficulty, a discrepancy, a dispersion, a distribution,
| |
| − | a doubt, a duplicity, or a duty.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Expressed another way, inquiry begins with a doubt about one's object,
| |
| − | whether this means what is true of a case, an object, or a world, what
| |
| − | to do about reaching a goal, or whether the hoped-for goal is really
| |
| − | good for oneself -- with all that these questions lead to in essence,
| |
| − | in deed, or in fact.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Perhaps there is an inexhaustible reality that issues in these
| |
| − | apparent mysteries and recurrent crises, but, by the time I say
| |
| − | this much, I am already indulging in a finite image, a hypothesis
| |
| − | about what is going on. If nothing else, then, one finds again the
| |
| − | familiar pattern, where the formative relation between the informal
| |
| − | and the formal merely serves to remind one anew of the relationship
| |
| − | between the infinite and the finite.
| |
| − | </pre>
| |
