Of two minds : the nature of inquiry / James Blachowicz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blachowicz, James, 1943-

Series:

SUNY series in philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Inquiry (Theory of knowledge).

Physical Description:

xv, 434 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [1998]

Summary:

This book examines the nature of inquiry -- the general method by which we expand our knowledge. It proposes a resolution of the paradox of inquiry, originally formulated in Plato's Meno and most recently the focus of the "logic of discovery" debate in the philosophy of science. The logic of correction developed in the book directly opposes the claim made by evolutionary epistemologists such as Popper and Campbell that there is no such thing as a "logical method for having new ideas". The author argues that beyond scientific discovery, the same logic is uncovered in the more intimate form of inquiry we conduct as we attempt to articulate meanings for ourselves. This comprehensive and revolutionary theory challenges traditional epistemology's conception of justification and provides substantial new perspectives on such diverse topics as ampliative inference, representation and meaning, Platonic and Hegelian dialectic, Kantian analysis, the heuristic function of models and metaphors, and the role of inquiry in the constitution of human consciousness.

Part I develops a logic of scientific discovery, arguing that new hypotheses are generated by editing or correcting antecedent hypotheses in response to empirical discrepancies. Part II outlines a theory of representation (focusing on the analog-digital distinction) that can serve as a bridge to a more general theory of inquiry. Part III uses the model of inquiry developed in Part I to interpret the process by which we come to articulate meanings for ourselves. And Part IV suggests that much of what we take to be human consciousness consists in the inquiry implicit in the "dialogue of the soul with itself".

Contents:

Introduction: The Mind's Own Method 1

Part I Inquiry Writ Large: Scientific Discovery

1 Full Circle: The Return to Discovery 11

Method without Novelty 12

Novelty without Method 15

2 The Logic of Correction 17

Correction vs. Elimination 17

Correction by Means of Elimination? 18

Composite Responses and Partial Successes 22

The Black Box Principle 24

Toward a Logic of Discovery 30

3 Generating Explanations from Facts 35

Initial Hypothesis 36

Predicted Observations 37

Contrasted Actual Observations 37

Proposed Hypothesis 40

Determination of Explanatory Power 45

4 Generating Facts from Explanations 53

Initial Observations 54

Proposed Hypothesis 55

Contrasted Explanatory Hypothesis 55

Predicted Observations 56

Determination of Factuality 57

5 Novelty and Method: Remarried 59

The First Principle of Inquiry 59

Ampliative Inference 60

The Regulative Principle of Correction 63

6 Maps of Discovery 65

The Second Principle of Inquiry 65

First-Order Maps 65

Generation and Confirmation in Maps 66

Second-Order Maps 67

Second-Order Justification 70

The Relativity of Result and the Scope of Inquiry 72

Quantitative Variation and Intelligent Inquiry 75

7 Reciprocal Justification: Stability without Foundations 77

The Third Principle of Inquiry 77

Some Earlier Views 80

Reflective Equilibrium 83

Neither Foundations nor Coherence 85

Reciprocal Justification with Epistemic Privilege 87

The Revisability of Observation Reports 90

Reciprocal Justification at Different Cognitive Levels 92

The Generality of Correction Theory 93

8 Discovery and the Philosophy of Science I: Enemies of Correction 97

Partial Successes and Evolution 98

Evolutionary Epistemology I Karl Popper 100

Evolutionary Epistemology II Donald Campbell 108

9 Discovery and the Philosophy of Science II: Friends of Correction 117

Abductive Inference: C. S. Peirce and N. R. Hanson 117

Computer Modeling of Discovery: Herbert Simon 130

Generative Justification: Thomas Nickles 136

Part II Representation: Analog Maps and Digital Rules

10 Analog Maps 155

Mental Imagery and Analog "Representation" 157

Resemblance 160

Continuity 162

Density 162

Seriality 165

The Digital and the Sequential 170

Relational Identity 171

The Analog beyond Mental Imagery 174

11 Digital Rules 179

Analog Maps: Representing as Reproducing 180

Digital Rules: Representing as Encoding 181

Representational Incompleteness 185

Levels of Representation 187

Qualitative and Quantitative Rules 188

Half-Levels of Representation 189

Abstract Models 195

12 The Calculus of Perception 199

Representation and Transduction 200

Perception without Background Knowledge 202

Representation Mistaken for Transduction 205

Representation and Perceptual Inference 207

13 Unarticulated Meaning 213

Meaning, Articulation, and Formulation 214

Prior Acquaintance 216

At What Level of Cognition Does Meaning Exist? 217

Meanings of Abstract Concepts 222

Part III Inquiry and the Mind: The Articulation of Meaning

14 Saying What We Mean 227

Initial Expression 228

Proposed Meaning 228

Contrasted Actual Meaning 229

Proposed Expression 238

Determination of Articulateness 238

15 Meaning What We Say 241

Initial Meaning 242

Proposed Expression 242

Contrasted Articulate Expression 242

Proposed Meaning 243

Determination of Actuality 243

Second-Order Maps 243

Metaphor and Inquiry 245

16 Inquiry and Philosophy I: Plato's Paradox 249

Platonic Inquiry 249

"Knowing" and "Not Knowing" in the Theaetetus 250

"Knowing That" and "Knowing Why" 253

"Knowing" and "Not Knowing" in the Meno 257

Levels of "Knowing That" and "Knowing Why" 260

The Structure of Inquiry in the Platonic Dialogues 268

17 Inquiry and Philosophy II: Kant and the Perfection of Cognition 275

The Informativeness of Propositions 276

Kantian Analysis and the "Improvement" of Form 277

The Paradox of Analysis 280

The Fruits of Analysis: Genera 284

Genera as Rules 284

Analysis and Synthesis of Mathematical Concepts 288

Analysis and Reason in the Perfection of Cognition 291

18 Inquiry and Philosophy III: Hegel's Dialectical Logic 299

Dialectic and Definition 300

Dialectic and Ampliative Inference 301

Dialectic as Correction 309

The Category-Dependence of the Standard 313

Contradiction 317

Dialectic and Scientific Inference 319

Part IV Of two Minds: Inquiry and Human Consciousness

19 The Dialogue of the Soul with Itself 329

Two Models of Inner Speech 329

A Conversation between Cognitively Different Partners 332

Talking to Ourselves: Earlier Views 335

Self-Consciousness 347

Other "Dialogues" 356

Hearing the Inner Voice 360

20 The Roots of Duality 365

Feeling and Representation 365

Epistemology with Feeling 367

The Duality 372

Postscript: En Route to Knowledge 375.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 407-422) and index.

ISBN:

0791436411

079143642X

OCLC:

36676075