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Now, consider the concept of inquiry as a candidate for clarification.  In the case of a concept like inquiry, the object of the concept in question is an activity that applies to the broadest conceivable variety of objects, one of these arguments being the topic of inquiry itself.  As a result, if one approaches a definition of inquiry by way of the pragmatic prescription for clarifying concepts, one quickly discovers that an important ingredient in the active formula for inquiry is a component that characterizes the concept ''inquiry'' in terms of its action on itself.

Now, consider the concept of inquiry as a candidate for clarification.  In the case of a concept like inquiry, the object of the concept in question is an activity that applies to the broadest conceivable variety of objects, one of these arguments being the topic of inquiry itself.  As a result, if one approaches a definition of inquiry by way of the pragmatic prescription for clarifying concepts, one quickly discovers that an important ingredient in the active formula for inquiry is a component that characterizes the concept ''inquiry'' in terms of its action on itself.

What does the object denoted by &ldquo;inquiry&rdquo; have to do with respect to the object denoted by &ldquo;inquiry&rdquo;, in the first place, to qualify as a genuine inquiry, in the end, to succeed as an inquiry into inquiry?  Evidently, something about the sign, the object, or what transpires between the sign and the object is conducive to attaining a better description of inquiry than that given by the mere name &ldquo;inquiry&rdquo;.  The word &ldquo;inquiry&rdquo; and the symbol <math>y\!</math> are like a host of difficult signs, starting with &ldquo;I&rdquo; and &ldquo;you&rdquo;, where knowing the sign does not mean knowing the object perfectly, although it can lead to a knowledge of it.  Simply knowing the word &ldquo;I&rdquo; and being able to use it adequately does not mean that I know myself perfectly, or that I can articulate my own nature.  At best, these signs can serve to indicate the direction of the object pointed out or help to remind an agent of the action that is called for to be carried out.

What does the object denoted by "inquiry" have to do with respect to the object denoted by "inquiry", in the first place, to qualify as a genuine inquiry, in the end, to succeed as an inquiry into inquiry?  Evidently, something about the sign, the object, or what transpires between the sign and the object is conducive to attaining a better description of inquiry than that given by the mere name "inquiry".  The word "inquiry" and the symbol "y" are like a host of difficult signs, starting with "I" and "you", where knowing the sign does not mean knowing the object perfectly, although it can lead to a knowledge of it.  Simply knowing the word "I" and being able to use it adequately does not mean that I know myself perfectly, or that I can articulate my own nature.  At best, these signs can serve to indicate the direction of the object pointed out or help to remind an agent of the action that is called for to be carried out.

Can the senses of a sign be so confused, or the sense of an interpreter be so confounded by it, that between the two it is difficult to know if the sign refers to something inside the self that is in the world or to something in the world that is outside the self?

Can the senses of a sign be so confused, or the sense of an interpreter be so confounded by it, that between the two it is difficult to know if the sign refers to something inside the self that is in the world or to something in the world that is outside the self?

Given the description of a question as an unclear sign, it might be thought that the sole purpose of an inquiry is to clarify a question until it acquires the status of an answer, and thus to operate wholly within the syntactic realm of signs and ideas.  But this would ignore many cases of experimental inquiry and active problem solving, natural to include among inquiries in general, that involve the manipulation of external objects and the alteration of objective states as they occur in the objective world.  With these things in mind, it is best to define an inquiry as a "sign relation transformation" (SRT), in other words, and a bit more pronounceably, as a "transformation of sign relations" (TOSR).  This is conceived to be an operation that acts on whole sign relations, changing one into another, typically by acting in specified ways on the "elementary sign relations" (ESR's), or on the ordered triples <o, s, i>. An inquiry, regarded as a TOSR, can be treated as a generalized form of "sign process".  Whereas a sign process is restricted to acting within a single sign relation and can only change signs into their interpretants, a TOSR can subject elements of an object domain to experimental actions and induce objective states to undergo a variety of intentional changes.

Given the description of a question as an unclear sign, it might be thought that the sole purpose of an inquiry is to clarify a question until it acquires the status of an answer, and thus to operate wholly within the syntactic realm of signs and ideas.  But this would ignore many cases of experimental inquiry and active problem solving, natural to include among inquiries in general, that involve the manipulation of external objects and the alteration of objective states as they occur in the objective world.  With these things in mind, it is best to define an inquiry as a ''sign relation transformation'' (SRT), in other words, and a bit more pronounceably, as a ''transformation of sign relations'' (TOSR).  This is conceived to be an operation that acts on whole sign relations, changing one into another, typically by acting in specified ways on the ''elementary sign relations''(ESRs), or on the ordered triples <math>(o, s, i).\!</math>  An inquiry, regarded as a TOSR, can be treated as a generalized form of ''sign process''.  Whereas a sign process is restricted to acting within a single sign relation and can only change signs into their interpretants, a TOSR can subject elements of an object domain to experimental actions and induce objective states to undergo a variety of intentional changes.

From an abstract relational point of view, it is not too far from grasping the concept of a sign relation to seeing that transformations, operations, and other sorts of relations that are possible to define on sign relations are bound to become of significant interest.  But the present concern is to decide whether the identification of inquiries with TOSR's constitutes a good definition in practice.  A good definition in practice, aside from capturing the necessary and sufficient properties of its subject, is one that facilitates the generation of fruitful, incisive, material, pertinent, and relevant ideas about it.  To some extent this depends on the context of practices and the specific purposes that a particular interpreter has in mind.  Still, some definitions are more generally useful than others.  Accordingly, the task I need to take up next is to examine the abstract concept of a TOSR with regard to its utility in practice, in other words, to determine its practical bearing on a concrete conception of inquiry, as it is topically understood.

From an abstract relational point of view, it is not too far from grasping the concept of a sign relation to seeing that transformations, operations, and other sorts of relations that are possible to define on sign relations are bound to become of significant interest.  But the present concern is to decide whether the identification of inquiries with TOSRs constitutes a good definition in practice.  A good definition in practice, aside from capturing the necessary and sufficient properties of its subject, is one that facilitates the generation of fruitful, incisive, material, pertinent, and relevant ideas about it.  To some extent this depends on the context of practices and the specific purposes that a particular interpreter has in mind.  Still, some definitions are more generally useful than others.  Accordingly, the task I need to take up next is to examine the abstract concept of a TOSR with regard to its utility in practice, in other words, to determine its practical bearing on a concrete conception of inquiry, as it is topically understood.

If the essence of inquiry, or any aspect of what an inquiry can be, is captured by the concept of a TOSR, then a lot can be learned about the nature of inquiry by studying the manifest varieties and the internal structures of TOSR's.

If the essence of inquiry, or any aspect of what an inquiry can be, is captured by the concept of a TOSR, then a lot can be learned about the nature of inquiry by studying the manifest varieties and the internal structures of TOSRs.

Expressing this in terms of a prospective calculus, the present inquiry, y0, constituted as an inquiry into inquiry, y.y, ...

Expressing this in terms of a prospective calculus, the present inquiry, y0, constituted as an inquiry into inquiry, y.y, ...