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The relationships among the activities and faculties of discussion, contemplation, formalization, meditation, and reflection need to be explored in more detail.  In particular, the relationship between formalization and reflection is especially relevant to the task of constructing a RIF.

The relationships among the activities and faculties of discussion, contemplation, formalization, meditation, and reflection need to be explored in more detail.  In particular, the relationship between formalization and reflection is especially relevant to the task of constructing a RIF.

Unlike a discussion of discussion, <math>d \cdot d,</math> which is easy to start and hard to put an end to once it gets going, it is difficult for a reflection on reflection, <math>r \cdot r,</math> to get itself going with nothing to reflect on but itself.  I have just illustrated one way of doing this, namely, by leading a text to reflect on itself, as long as you understand this figure of speech to mean that it leads its interpreters, its writer and reader, without whose agency there would be no reflection at all, to reflect on how it reflects on itself.  But I obviously need other ways than this to demonstrate the functions and properties of reflection in anything like their full variety.

Unlike a discussion of discussion, d.d, which is easy to start and hard to put an end to once it gets going, it is difficult for a reflection on reflection, r.r, to get itself going with nothing to reflect on but itself.  I have just illustrated one way of doing this, namely, by leading a text to reflect on itself, as long as you understand this figure of speech to mean that it leads its interpreters, its writer and reader, without whose agency there would be no reflection at all, to reflect on how it reflects on itself.  But I obviously need other ways than this to demonstrate the functions and properties of reflection in anything like their full variety.

Toward this end, it can also help to illustrate the action of reflection if I find it some material besides itself to reflect off of, in other words, if I supply it with an independently generated and concretely finished text as an argument to exercise its powers of reflection on.  Accordingly, in the next part of this discussion I will interleave my text with ...

Toward this end, it can also help to illustrate the action of reflection if I find it some material besides itself to reflect off of, in other words, if I supply it with an independently generated and concretely finished text as an argument to exercise its powers of reflection on.  Accordingly, in the next part of this discussion I will interleave my text with &hellip;

The preview that follows takes up the first stirrings of many subjects that cannot be meaningfully engaged, much less fully formalized, until much later in the investigation.  In many cases the ongoing discussion can afford to pause only long enough to toss a provisional name in the direction of a prospective topic, both the name and the place of which promise an eventual return and revision, if not a recurring visitation.  If I were forced to give a formal title to my sketch in reconnaissance of this area, I would call it the "phenomenology of inquiry", but this fine label is already too heavy an emblem for my effort to bear at this point.

The preview that follows takes up the first stirrings of many subjects that cannot be meaningfully engaged, much less fully formalized, until much later in the investigation.  In many cases the ongoing discussion can afford to pause only long enough to toss a provisional name in the direction of a prospective topic, both the name and the place of which promise an eventual return and revision, if not a recurring visitation.  If I were forced to give a formal title to my sketch in reconnaissance of this area, I would call it the &ldquo;phenomenology of inquiry&rdquo;, but this fine label is already too heavy an emblem for my effort to bear at this point.

This subsection presents a broad overview of the questions raised and the conceptual needs occasioned by the prospects of constructing a RIF.  It makes no attempt to completely cover the topics it identifies and does not try to answer the questions it raises or to fill the needs it notices, but it merely points out a selective sample of the most salient concerns that need to be addressed.

This subsection presents a broad overview of the questions raised and the conceptual needs occasioned by the prospects of constructing a RIF.  It makes no attempt to completely cover the topics it identifies and does not try to answer the questions it raises or to fill the needs it notices, but it merely points out a selective sample of the most salient concerns that need to be addressed.

The long route which I propose also aspires to carry reflection to the level of an ontology, but it will do so by degrees, following successive investigations into semantics and reflection.

The long route which I propose also aspires to carry reflection to the level of an ontology, but it will do so by degrees, following successive investigations into semantics and reflection.

Paul Ricoeur, The Conflict of Interpretations, [Ric, 6]

Paul Ricoeur, The Conflict of Interpretations, [Ric, 6]