Changes

(Yes, there is a subtext.  (There is always a subtext.)  A reader who has access to the subtext, who can read it in the face of the pretext, and who remains both sensitive to and sensible about its connotations, is already beginning to suspect that what I intend to argue in the end is exactly that the chief justification of inquiry is nothing less and nothing more than the pure joy of it.  But the moment that I depend on this subtext to carry the logical argument, to go beyond supporting the intuition and encouraging the effort of reasoning, is the moment that I utterly fail in my intention.  This bears on the matter of a harmonious balance between rhetoric and logic, where the former appreciates and is bound to consider the affective and the impressionable nature of the interpreter, and takes into account the need for reason's ponderous beacon to be buoyed over the deep by incidental glosses and light exhortations.)

(Yes, there is a subtext.  (There is always a subtext.)  A reader who has access to the subtext, who can read it in the face of the pretext, and who remains both sensitive to and sensible about its connotations, is already beginning to suspect that what I intend to argue in the end is exactly that the chief justification of inquiry is nothing less and nothing more than the pure joy of it.  But the moment that I depend on this subtext to carry the logical argument, to go beyond supporting the intuition and encouraging the effort of reasoning, is the moment that I utterly fail in my intention.  This bears on the matter of a harmonious balance between rhetoric and logic, where the former appreciates and is bound to consider the affective and the impressionable nature of the interpreter, and takes into account the need for reason's ponderous beacon to be buoyed over the deep by incidental glosses and light exhortations.)

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Self-awareness is our capacity to stand apart from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our scripts, our actions, and our habits and tendencies.  It enables us to take off our "glasses" and look at them as well as through them.  It makes it possible for us to become aware of the social and psychic history of the programs that are in us and to enlarge the separation between stimulus and response.

Covey, Merrill, & Merrill, First Things First, [CMM, 59]

<p>Self-awareness is our capacity to stand apart from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our scripts, our actions, and our habits and tendencies.  It enables us to take off our &ldquo;glasses&rdquo; and look at them as well as through them.  It makes it possible for us to become aware of the social and psychic history of the programs that are in us and to enlarge the separation between stimulus and response.</p>

| align="right" | Covey, Merrill, and Merrill, ''First Things First'', [CMM, 59]

How is it possible for one to use an organization of thought in order to think about that same organization of thought, or indeed, about others?  How is it possible to draw distinctions, even the most basic distinctions necessary to thought, in such a way that they can be redrawn and even withdrawn when necessary?  In other words, what are the conditions for having a "critical reflection of inquiry" (CROI), a system of assumptions and methods that acts continuously and self-correctively to constitute a critically reflective belief system?  This would be tantamount to a POV where no assumption is forced to be taken for granted, even if at any given moment many assumptions are contingently being acted on just as if they were true.  For instance, if a distinction between dynamic and symbolic systems, or aspects of systems, is a part of one's present POV, to what extent can one reflect on that fact, and thus be able to think about alternative POV's or to think about changing one's current POV?

How is it possible for one to use an organization of thought in order to think about that same organization of thought, or indeed, about others?  How is it possible to draw distinctions, even the most basic distinctions necessary to thought, in such a way that they can be redrawn and even withdrawn when necessary?  In other words, what are the conditions for having a ''critical reflection of inquiry'' (CROI), a system of assumptions and methods that acts continuously and self-correctively to constitute a critically reflective belief system?  This would be tantamount to a POV where no assumption is forced to be taken for granted, even if at any given moment many assumptions are contingently being acted on just as if they were true.  For instance, if a distinction between dynamic and symbolic systems, or aspects of systems, is a part of one's present POV, to what extent can one reflect on that fact, and thus be able to think about alternative POVs or to think about changing one's current POV?

This ends my preview of the kinds of issues that the pragmatic theory of sign relations and their reflective extensions is intended to comprehend.

This ends my preview of the kinds of issues that the pragmatic theory of sign relations and their reflective extensions is intended to comprehend.

In the sequel I propose a particular way of approaching these problems.  I introduce a simplified model of the general situation to be addressed, but one with sufficient structure to embody analogous versions of many of the problems and phenomena of ultimate interest.  By exploring the issues that develop in this miniature model, and by looking for ways of resolving them that work on this scale, I hope to gain insight into ways of dealing with the corresponding issues in the larger study of inquiry.

In the sequel I propose a particular way of approaching these problems.  I introduce a simplified model of the general situation to be addressed, but one with sufficient structure to embody analogous versions of many of the problems and phenomena of ultimate interest.  By exploring the issues that develop in this miniature model, and by looking for ways of resolving them that work on this scale, I hope to gain insight into ways of dealing with the corresponding issues in the larger study of inquiry.

To be specific, I restrict my discussion at first to "propositional" or "sentential" models of POV's, and I examine a particular type of logical strategy that allows agents operating within this framework to describe the constitutions of a broad class of POV's.  If this strategy turns out to be flexible enough, it can permit agents to reflect on the bases and the biases of their POV's and those of others, at least, to some degree.

To be specific, I restrict my discussion at first to ''propositional'' or ''sentential'' models of POVs, and I examine a particular type of logical strategy that allows agents operating within this framework to describe the constitutions of a broad class of POVs.  If this strategy turns out to be flexible enough, it can permit agents to reflect on the bases and the biases of their POVs and those of others, at least, to some degree.

This circumscription of expressions with a double meaning properly constitutes the hermeneutic field.

This circumscription of expressions with a double meaning properly constitutes the hermeneutic field.

Paul Ricoeur, The Conflict of Interpretations, [Ric, 13]

Paul Ricoeur, The Conflict of Interpretations, [Ric, 13]