| Line 8: |
Line 8: |
| | | | |
| | <pre> | | <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 | | I recognize inquiry as beginning with a "surprising phenomenon" or |
| | a "problematic situation", more briefly described as a "surprise" | | a "problematic situation", more briefly described as a "surprise" |
