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<div class="nonumtoc">__TOC__</div>

<div class="nonumtoc">__TOC__</div>

==3. Interlude : The Medium and Its Message==

==5. Interlude : The Medium and Its Message==

===3.1. Reflective Writing===

===5.1. Reflective Writing===

====3.1.1. Casual Reflection====

====5.1.1. Casual Reflection====

=====3.1.1.1. Ostensibly Recursive Texts=====

=====5.1.1.1. Ostensibly Recursive Texts=====

=====3.1.1.2. Analogical Recursion=====

=====5.1.1.2. Analogical Recursion=====

====3.1.2. Conscious Reflection====

====5.1.2. Conscious Reflection====

=====3.1.2.1. The Signal Moment=====

=====5.1.2.1. The Signal Moment=====

=====3.1.2.2. The Symbolic Object=====

=====5.1.2.2. The Symbolic Object=====

=====3.1.2.3. The Endeavor to Communicate=====

=====5.1.2.3. The Endeavor to Communicate=====

=====3.1.2.4. The Medium of Communication=====

=====5.1.2.4. The Medium of Communication=====

=====3.1.2.5. The Ark of Types : The Order of Things to Come=====

=====5.1.2.5. The Ark of Types : The Order of Things to Come=====

=====3.1.2.6. The Epitext=====

=====5.1.2.6. The Epitext=====

=====3.1.2.7. The Context of Interpretation=====

=====5.1.2.7. The Context of Interpretation=====

=====3.1.2.8. The Formative Tension=====

=====5.1.2.8. The Formative Tension=====

=====3.1.2.9. The Vehicle of Communication : Reflection on Scene and Self=====

=====5.1.2.9. The Vehicle of Communication : Reflection on Scene and Self=====

=====3.1.2.10.=====

=====5.1.2.10.=====

=====3.1.2.11.=====

=====5.1.2.11.=====

=====3.1.2.12. Recursions : Possible, Actual, Necessary=====

=====5.1.2.12. Recursions : Possible, Actual, Necessary=====

=====3.1.2.13. Ostensibly Recursive Texts (Again?)=====

=====5.1.2.13. Ostensibly Recursive Texts (Again?)=====

=====3.1.2.14.=====

=====5.1.2.14.=====

=====3.1.2.15. The Freedom of Interpretation=====

=====5.1.2.15. The Freedom of Interpretation=====

=====3.1.2.16. The Eternal Return=====

=====5.1.2.16. The Eternal Return=====

=====3.1.2.17.=====

=====5.1.2.17.=====

=====3.1.2.18. Information in Formation=====

=====5.1.2.18. Information in Formation=====

=====3.1.2.19. Reflectively Indexical Texts=====

=====5.1.2.19. Reflectively Indexical Texts=====

=====3.1.2.20.=====

=====5.1.2.20.=====

=====3.1.2.21.=====

=====5.1.2.21.=====

=====3.1.2.22.=====

=====5.1.2.22.=====

=====3.1.2.23.=====

=====5.1.2.23.=====

=====3.1.2.24.=====

=====5.1.2.24.=====

=====3.1.2.25. The Discursive Universe=====

=====5.1.2.25. The Discursive Universe=====

=====3.1.2.26.=====

=====5.1.2.26.=====

=====3.1.2.27.=====

=====5.1.2.27.=====

=====3.1.2.28.=====

=====5.1.2.28.=====

=====3.1.2.29.=====

=====5.1.2.29.=====

=====3.1.2.30.=====

=====5.1.2.30.=====

=====3.1.2.31.=====

=====5.1.2.31.=====

=====3.1.2.32.=====

=====5.1.2.32.=====

===3.2. Reflective Inquiry===

===5.2. Reflective Inquiry===

====3.2.1. Integrity and Unity of Inquiry====

====5.2.1. Integrity and Unity of Inquiry====

One of the very first questions that one encounters in the inquiry into inquiry is one that challenges both the integrity and the unity of inquiry, a question that asks:  &ldquo;Is inquiry one or many?&rdquo;  By this one means two things:

One of the very first questions that one encounters in the inquiry into inquiry is one that challenges both the integrity and the unity of inquiry, a question that asks:  &ldquo;Is inquiry one or many?&rdquo;  By this one means two things:

Another way to express these questions is in terms of a distinction between ''form'' and ''matter''.  The form is what all inquiries have in common, and the question is whether it is anything beyond the bare triviality that they all have to take place in some universe of inquiry or another.  The matter is what concerns each particular inquiry, and the question is whether the matter warps the form to a shape all its own, one that is peculiar to this matter to such a degree that it is never interchangeable with the forms that are proper to other modes of inquiry.

Another way to express these questions is in terms of a distinction between ''form'' and ''matter''.  The form is what all inquiries have in common, and the question is whether it is anything beyond the bare triviality that they all have to take place in some universe of inquiry or another.  The matter is what concerns each particular inquiry, and the question is whether the matter warps the form to a shape all its own, one that is peculiar to this matter to such a degree that it is never interchangeable with the forms that are proper to other modes of inquiry.

====3.2.2. Apparitions and Allegations====

====5.2.2. Apparitions and Allegations====

Next I consider the preparations for a phenomenology.  This is not yet any style of phenomenology itself but an effort to grasp the very idea that something appears, and to grasp it in relation to the something that appears.  I begin by looking at a sample of the language that one ordinarily uses to talk about appearances, with an eye to how this medium shapes one's thinking about what appears.  A close inspection reveals that there are subtleties issuing from this topic that are partly disclosed and partly obscured by the language that is commonly used in this connection.

Next I consider the preparations for a phenomenology.  This is not yet any style of phenomenology itself but an effort to grasp the very idea that something appears, and to grasp it in relation to the something that appears.  I begin by looking at a sample of the language that one ordinarily uses to talk about appearances, with an eye to how this medium shapes one's thinking about what appears.  A close inspection reveals that there are subtleties issuing from this topic that are partly disclosed and partly obscured by the language that is commonly used in this connection.

Before the orders of complexity that are involved in the construction of a RIF can be entertained, however, it is best to obtain a rudimentary understanding of just how the issues associated with reflection can in fact arise in ordinary and unformalized experience.  Proceeding by this path will allow us to gain, along with a useful array of moderately concrete intuitions, a relatively stable basis for comprehending the nature of reflection.  For all of these reasons, the rest of this initial discussion will content itself with a sample of the more obvious and even superficial properties of reflection as they develop out of casual and even cursory contexts of discussion, and as they make themselves available for expression in the terms and in the structures of a natural language medium.

Before the orders of complexity that are involved in the construction of a RIF can be entertained, however, it is best to obtain a rudimentary understanding of just how the issues associated with reflection can in fact arise in ordinary and unformalized experience.  Proceeding by this path will allow us to gain, along with a useful array of moderately concrete intuitions, a relatively stable basis for comprehending the nature of reflection.  For all of these reasons, the rest of this initial discussion will content itself with a sample of the more obvious and even superficial properties of reflection as they develop out of casual and even cursory contexts of discussion, and as they make themselves available for expression in the terms and in the structures of a natural language medium.

====3.2.3. A Reflective Heuristic====

====5.2.3. A Reflective Heuristic====

In a first attempt to state explicitly the principles by which reflection operates, it helps to notice a few of the tasks that reflection performs.  In the process of doing this it is useful to keep this figure of speech, where the anthropomorphic ''reflection'' is interpreted in the figure of its personification, in other words, as a hypostatic reference that personifies the reflective faculty of an agent.

In a first attempt to state explicitly the principles by which reflection operates, it helps to notice a few of the tasks that reflection performs.  In the process of doing this it is useful to keep this figure of speech, where the anthropomorphic ''reflection'' is interpreted in the figure of its personification, in other words, as a hypostatic reference that personifies the reflective faculty of an agent.

Aesthetic slogans and practical maxims do not have to be consistent in all of the exact and universal ways that are required of logical principles, since their applications to each particular matter can be adjusted in a differential and a discriminating manner, taking into account the points of their pertinence, the qualities of their relevance, and the times of their salience.  Nevertheless, the use of these heuristic principles can have a bearing on the practice of logic, especially when it comes to the forms of logical expression and argumentation that are available for use in a particular language, specialized calculus, or other formal system.  Although one's initial formulations of logical reasoning, in the shapes that are seized on by fallible and finite creatures, can be as arbitrary and as idiosyntactic as particular persons and parochial paradigms are likely to make them, a dedicated and persistent application of these two heuristic rudiments, whether in team, in tandem, or in tournament with each other, is capable of leading in time to forms that subtilize and universalize, at the same time, the forms initially taken by thought.

Aesthetic slogans and practical maxims do not have to be consistent in all of the exact and universal ways that are required of logical principles, since their applications to each particular matter can be adjusted in a differential and a discriminating manner, taking into account the points of their pertinence, the qualities of their relevance, and the times of their salience.  Nevertheless, the use of these heuristic principles can have a bearing on the practice of logic, especially when it comes to the forms of logical expression and argumentation that are available for use in a particular language, specialized calculus, or other formal system.  Although one's initial formulations of logical reasoning, in the shapes that are seized on by fallible and finite creatures, can be as arbitrary and as idiosyntactic as particular persons and parochial paradigms are likely to make them, a dedicated and persistent application of these two heuristic rudiments, whether in team, in tandem, or in tournament with each other, is capable of leading in time to forms that subtilize and universalize, at the same time, the forms initially taken by thought.

====3.2.8. Priorisms of Normative Sciences====

====5.2.8. Priorisms of Normative Sciences====

Let me start with some questions that continue to puzzle me, in spite of having spent a considerable spell of time pursuing their answers, and not for a lack of listening to the opinions expressed on various sides.  I first present these questions as independently of the current context as I possibly can, and then I return to justify their relevance to the present inquiry.

Let me start with some questions that continue to puzzle me, in spite of having spent a considerable spell of time pursuing their answers, and not for a lack of listening to the opinions expressed on various sides.  I first present these questions as independently of the current context as I possibly can, and then I return to justify their relevance to the present inquiry.

Of course, there is much that is open to interpretation about the maxim "knowledge is virtue".  In particular, does the copula "is" represent a necessary implication (<math>\Rightarrow</math>), a sufficient reduction ("is only", <math>\Leftarrow</math>), or a necessary and sufficient identification (<math>\Leftrightarrow</math>)?

Of course, there is much that is open to interpretation about the maxim "knowledge is virtue".  In particular, does the copula "is" represent a necessary implication (<math>\Rightarrow</math>), a sufficient reduction ("is only", <math>\Leftarrow</math>), or a necessary and sufficient identification (<math>\Leftrightarrow</math>)?

====3.2.9. Principle of Rational Action====

====5.2.9. Principle of Rational Action====

{| align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="90%"

{| align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="90%"

# In their quantitative aspect, virtues appear to be infinitely far beyond the grasp of discrete, finite, and even rational resources.

# In their quantitative aspect, virtues appear to be infinitely far beyond the grasp of discrete, finite, and even rational resources.

====3.2.10. The Pragmatic Cosmos====

====5.2.10. The Pragmatic Cosmos====

This Section outlines the general idea of a ''priorism of normative sciences'' (PONS) and it presents the particular PONS that I will refer to as the ''pragmatic cosmos''.  This is the precedence ordering for the normative sciences that best accords with the pragmatic approach to inquiry, incidentally framing and introducing the order of normative sciences that I plan to deploy throughout the rest of this work.  From this point on, whenever I mention a PONS without further qualification, it will always be one or another version of a pragmatic PONS that I mean to invoke, all the while taking into consideration the circumstance that its underlying theme still leaves a lot of room for variation in the carrying out of its live interpretation.

This Section outlines the general idea of a ''priorism of normative sciences'' (PONS) and it presents the particular PONS that I will refer to as the ''pragmatic cosmos''.  This is the precedence ordering for the normative sciences that best accords with the pragmatic approach to inquiry, incidentally framing and introducing the order of normative sciences that I plan to deploy throughout the rest of this work.  From this point on, whenever I mention a PONS without further qualification, it will always be one or another version of a pragmatic PONS that I mean to invoke, all the while taking into consideration the circumstance that its underlying theme still leaves a lot of room for variation in the carrying out of its live interpretation.

In principle, therefore, logic assumes a purely ancillary role in regard to the ethics of active conduct and the aesthetics of affective values.  On balance, however, logic can achieve heights of abstraction, points of perspective, and summits of reflection that are otherwise unavailable to a mind embroiled in the tangle of its continuing actions and immersed in the flow of its current passions.  By rising above this plain immersion in the dementias swept out by action and passion, logic can acquire the status of a handle, something an agent can use in its situation to avoid being swept along with the tide of affairs, something that keeps it from being swept up with all that the times press on it to sweep out of mind.  By means of this instrument, logic affords the mind an ability to survey the passing scene in ways that it cannot hope to imagine while engaged in the engrossing business of keeping its gnosis to the grindstone, and so it becomes apt to adopt the attitude that it needs in order to become capable of reflecting on its very own actions, affects, and axioms.

In principle, therefore, logic assumes a purely ancillary role in regard to the ethics of active conduct and the aesthetics of affective values.  On balance, however, logic can achieve heights of abstraction, points of perspective, and summits of reflection that are otherwise unavailable to a mind embroiled in the tangle of its continuing actions and immersed in the flow of its current passions.  By rising above this plain immersion in the dementias swept out by action and passion, logic can acquire the status of a handle, something an agent can use in its situation to avoid being swept along with the tide of affairs, something that keeps it from being swept up with all that the times press on it to sweep out of mind.  By means of this instrument, logic affords the mind an ability to survey the passing scene in ways that it cannot hope to imagine while engaged in the engrossing business of keeping its gnosis to the grindstone, and so it becomes apt to adopt the attitude that it needs in order to become capable of reflecting on its very own actions, affects, and axioms.

===3.3. Reflection on Reflection===

===5.3. Reflection on Reflection===

Before this discussion can proceed any further I need to introduce a technical vocabulary that is specifically designed to articulate the relation of thought to action and the relation of conduct to purpose.  This terminology makes use of a classical distinction between ''action'', as simply taken, and ''conduct'', as fully considered in the light of its means, its ways, and its ends.  To the extent that affects, motivations, and purposes are bound up with one another, the objects that lie within the reach of this language that are able to be grasped by means of its concepts provide a form of cognitive handle on the complex arrays of affective impulsions and the unruly masses of emotional obstructions that serve both to drive and to block the effective performance of inquiry.

Before this discussion can proceed any further I need to introduce a technical vocabulary that is specifically designed to articulate the relation of thought to action and the relation of conduct to purpose.  This terminology makes use of a classical distinction between ''action'', as simply taken, and ''conduct'', as fully considered in the light of its means, its ways, and its ends.  To the extent that affects, motivations, and purposes are bound up with one another, the objects that lie within the reach of this language that are able to be grasped by means of its concepts provide a form of cognitive handle on the complex arrays of affective impulsions and the unruly masses of emotional obstructions that serve both to drive and to block the effective performance of inquiry.

==Document History==

==Document History==

===3.2. Reflective Inquiry (Inquiry List, April 2004)===

===5.2. Reflective Inquiry (Inquiry List, April 2004)===

* http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/2004-April/thread.html#1328

* http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/2004-April/thread.html#1328

# http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/2004-April/001336.html

# http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/2004-April/001336.html

===3.2. Reflective Inquiry (Ontology List, April 2004)===

===5.2. Reflective Inquiry (Ontology List, April 2004)===

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd1.html#05520

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd1.html#05520

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg05528.html

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg05528.html

===3.2.8. Priorisms of Normative Sciences (Ontology List, June 2002)===

===5.2.8. Priorisms of Normative Sciences (Ontology List, June 2002)===

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04264

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04264

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04265.html

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04265.html

===3.2.9. Principle of Rational Action (Ontology List, June 2002)===

===5.2.9. Principle of Rational Action (Ontology List, June 2002)===

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04266

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04266

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04266.html

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04266.html

===3.2.10. The Pragmatic Cosmos (Ontology List, June 2002)===

===5.2.10. The Pragmatic Cosmos (Ontology List, June 2002)===

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04262

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04262

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04262.html

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04262.html

===3.3. Reflection on Reflection (Ontology List, June 2002)===

===5.3. Reflection on Reflection (Ontology List, June 2002)===

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04226

* http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd25.html#04226

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04226.html

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04226.html

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04227.html

# http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg04227.html