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Directory:Jon Awbrey/Papers/Inquiry Driven Systems : Part 7 (view source)
Revision as of 16:56, 19 August 2011
, 16:56, 19 August 2011→7.2.1. Intentional Objects and Attitudes: + text
====7.2.1. Intentional Objects and Attitudes====
====7.2.1. Intentional Objects and Attitudes====
A rule of thumb about "intentional objects" makes them out to be both "inexistent" and "intensional". These adjectives will be explained next, but first it needs to be understood that the sense of this maxim, though genuine, is not absolutely general. As with any heuristic principle, the rule is intended to serve as a guide in practice, to cover the typical cases of recurring interest in applied situations, but not of necessity to deal with the various kinds of degenerate cases that can logically occur. In short, the intention of the maxim is restricted to illuminating the most salient and relevant aspects of intentional objects, as pertains to the ordinary run of situations where a successful application of the concept is reasonably to be expected.
With the topic completely hedged about in all these ways, the following things can now be safely said about the notion of a design objective or an intentional object, at least, in the "hard case" of the concept that forms the only case of interest here:
1. An intentional object embodies in a logical sense the aims, ends, goals, or aspirations of a situated agent, but the intended object cannot be regarded as being present in a fully actualized sense so long as the associated intention, or the "intentional attitude" of the agent toward that object, is still maintained as active. In other words:
a. An intentional object is "inexistent" in the actual situation. It is a logical component but not an actual constituent in the intermediate context of the situated agent that actively intends, indicates, makes reference to, or signifies it.
b. An intentional object is not really present in the mediate existential moment (the instigating or non terminal condition) of the agent that is actively involved in maintaining an intentional attitude toward it.
c. An intentional object "models" or logically satisfies the features that a situated agent desires to achieve in a future situation, but these target attributes, by the very nature of its conative state, are qualities it lacks of attaining in its present situation.
d. An intentional object is purely a "potential" object. It is the kind of object of speculative thought that can only be said, and said only somewhat pre figuratively, to lie potentially present within the mediate context or "mean time" situation of the agent that has designs on it or that seeks to accomplish it. An intentional object is present purely as a potential object of the relevant mediating context.
e. When the object is obtained the attitude acquiesces. This means that intentional objects and intentional attitudes, in their dimensions of actualization, are complementary aspects of being, like position and momentum.
f. Often one is tempted to view the "clear and present danger" that is posed by a "design obstruction or non termination" (DON'T) condition to be an example of an intentional object that is really there in the agent's mediate situation, since the obstacle exists as an undeniable presence and the fault exists an actual mode of being. But this clearly involves a mistake about the agent's real agenda. It should be obvious that the actual design objective in such a case is to achieve a condition where the obstacle, fault, or hazard is removed. So the predicate that is a DO in this case is exactly the negation of the objectionable detail.
2. Because the intentional object is not actually present in the situation of the agent that has an active intentional attitude toward it, it can only be said to be represented in the situation in terms of its declared properties, or "intensions", the constraints and requirements it is expected or desired to satisfy. (potential presence)
This analysis of the concept of design objectives or intentional objects, though it trades a bit too heavily perhaps on the stock notions that naive etymology codes into ordinary language, does at least suggest that a study of sign relations could have a significant bearing on the understanding of "design relations", that is, the relationships of design contexts to their intended objects.
====7.2.2. Imperfect Design and Persistent Error====
====7.2.2. Imperfect Design and Persistent Error====