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| | + | ==Discussion== |
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| | ==Work Area== | | ==Work Area== |
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| − | ===1.3.===
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| − | ====1.3.5. Discussion of Formalization : Specific Objects====
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| − | <pre>
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| − | If inquiry begins in doubt, then inquiry into inquiry begins in
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| − | doubt about doubt. All things considered, the formula "y_0 = y y"
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| − | has to be taken as the first attempt at a description of the problem,
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| − | a hypothesis about the nature of inquiry, or an image that is tossed out
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| − | by way of getting an initial fix on the object in question. Everything in
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| − | this account so far, and everything else that I am likely to add, can only
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| − | be reckoned as hypothesis, whose accuracy, pertinence, and usefulness can
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| − | be tested, judged, and redeemed only after the fact of proposing it and
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| − | after the facts to which it refers have themselves been gathered up.
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| − | A number of problems present themselves due to the context in which
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| − | the present inquiry is aimed to present itself. The hypothesis that
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| − | suggests itself to one person, as worth exploring at a particular time,
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| − | does not always present itself to another person as worth exploring at
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| − | the same time, or even necessarily to the same person at another time.
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| − | In a community of inquiry that extends beyond an isolated person and
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| − | in a process of inquiry that extends beyond a singular moment in time,
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| − | it is therefore necessary to consider the nature of the communication
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| − | process that the discussion of inquiry in general and the discussion of
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| − | formalization in particular need to invoke for their ultimate utility.
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| − |
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| − | Solitude and solipsism are no solution to the problems of community and
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| − | communication, since even an isolated individual, if ever there was, is,
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| − | or comes to be such a thing, has to maintain the lines of communication
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| − | that are required to integrate past, present, and prospective selves --
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| − | in other words, translating everything into present terms, the parts of
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| − | one's actually present self that involve actual experiences and present
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| − | observations, do present expectations as reflective of actual memories,
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| − | and do present intentions as reflective of actual hopes. Consequently,
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| − | the dialogue that one holds with oneself is every bit as problematic
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| − | as the dialogue that one enters with others. Others only surprise
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| − | one in other ways than one ordinarily surprises oneself.
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| − | I recognize inquiry as beginning with a "surprising phenomenon" or
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| − | a "problematic situation", more briefly described as a "surprise"
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| − | or a "problem", respectively. These are the types of moments that
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| − | try our souls, the instances of events that instigate inquiry as
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| − | an effort to achieve their own resolution. Surprises and problems
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| − | are experienced as afflicted with an irritating uncertainty or a
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| − | compelling difficulty, one that calls for a response on the part
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| − | of the agent in question:
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| − | 1. A "surprise" calls for an explanation to resolve the
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| − | uncertainty that is present in it. This uncertainty
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| − | is associated with a difference between observations
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| − | and expectations.
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| − | 2. A "problem" calls for a plan of action to resolve the
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| − | difficulty that is present in it. This difficulty is
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| − | associated with a difference between observations and
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| − | intentions.
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| − | To express this diversity in a unified formula: Both types of inquiry
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| − | begin with a "delta", a compact term that admits of expansion as a debt,
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| − | a difference, a difficulty, a discrepancy, a dispersion, a distribution,
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| − | a doubt, a duplicity, or a duty.
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| − |
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| − | Expressed another way, inquiry begins with a doubt about one's object,
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| − | whether this means what is true of a case, an object, or a world, what
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| − | to do about reaching a goal, or whether the hoped-for goal is really
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| − | good for oneself -- with all that these questions lead to in essence,
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| − | in deed, or in fact.
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| − | Perhaps there is an inexhaustible reality that issues in these
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| − | apparent mysteries and recurrent crises, but, by the time I say
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| − | this much, I am already indulging in a finite image, a hypothesis
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| − | about what is going on. If nothing else, then, one finds again the
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| − | familiar pattern, where the formative relation between the informal
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| − | and the formal merely serves to remind one anew of the relationship
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| − | between the infinite and the finite.
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| − | </pre>
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