Inquiry Driven Systems : Part 4

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• Contents • Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Appendices • References • Document History •

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Part 4. Discussion of Inquiry

The subject matter under review is assigned the name “inquiry”, a name that is presently both general and vague. The generality is essential, marking the actual extension and the eventual coverage that the name is intended to have. The vagueness is incidental, hinging on the personal concept of the subject matter and the prevailing level of comprehension that relates an interpreter of the name to the object of its indication. As the investigation proceeds, it is hoped that the name can become as general as it is meant to be, but not forever remain so vague.

In regarding and presenting this subject, I need the freedom to adopt any one of several views. These are the perspectives that I call the “classical” or syllogistic, the “pragmatic” or sign theoretic, and the “dynamical” or system theoretic points of view. Each perspective or point of view is supported by a corresponding framework or a supply of resources, the intellectual tools that allow a person taking up such a view to develop and to share a picture of what can be seen from it.

The situation with respect to these different views can be described as follows. The part of the subject that can be seen in each view appears to make sense, if taken by itself, but it does not appear to be entirely consistent with all that is obvious from the other perspectives, and all of these pictures put together are almost certainly incomplete in regard to the subject they are meant to depict. Although the various pictures can be presented in the roughly historical order of their development, it is a mistaken view of their progression to think that the later views can simply replace the former pictures. In particular, if the classical view is taken as an initial approximation to its subject, then it can be regarded as relatively complete with respect to this intention, but both of the later frameworks, that build on and try to reform this basis, are very much works in progress and far from being completed projects. Taken in order of historical development, each succeeding view always promises to keep all that is good from the preceding points of view, but the current state of development is such that these claims have to be taken as promissory notes, not yet matured and not yet due.

In accord with this situation, I would like to be able to take up any one of these views at any point in the discussion and to move with relative ease among the different pictures of inquiry that they frequently show. Along with this ability, I need to have ways to put their divergent and varying views in comparison with each other, to reflect on the reasons for their distinctions and variations, and overall to have some room to imagine how these views might be corrected, extended, reconciled, and integrated into a coherent and a competent picture of the subject.

This part of the discussion cannot be formal or systematic. It is not intended to argue for any particular point of view, but only to introduce some of the language, ideas, and issues that surround the topic of inquiry. No amount of forethought or premeditation that I can muster would be sufficient to impose an alien organization on this array. The most that I can hope to bring to this forum is to seek clarification of some the terms and to pursue the consequences of some of the axioms that are in the air. Nor do I expect the reader to be disarmed by this apology, at least, not yet, and never unilaterally, since it is obvious that my own point of view, however unformed and inarticulate it may be, cannot help but to affect the selection of problems, subtopics, and suggested angles of approach.

Taking all of these factors into account, the best plan that I can arrange for presenting the subject matter of inquiry is as follows:

First, I describe the individual perspectives and their corresponding frameworks in very general terms, but only insofar as they bear on the subject of inquiry, so that each way of looking at the subject is made available as a resource for the discussion that follows.

Next, I discuss the context of inquiry, treating it as a general field of observation in which the task is to describe an interesting phenomenon or a problematic process. There are a number of dilemmas that arise in this context, especially when it comes to observing and describing the process of inquiry itself. Since these difficulties threaten to paralyze the basic abilities to observe, to describe, and to reflect, a reasonable way around their real obstacles or through their apparent obstructions has to be found before proceeding.

Afterwards, I consider concrete examples of inquiry activities, using any combination of views that appears to be of service at a given moment of discussion, and pointing out problems that call for further investigation.

4.1. Approaches to Inquiry

Try as I might, I do not see a way to develop a theory of inquiry from nothing: To begin from a point where there is nothing to question, to strike out in a given direction without putting anything of consequence at stake, and to trace an unbroken, forward course by following steps that are never unsure. Acquiring a theory of inquiry is not, in short, a purely deductive exercise.

At the risk of being wrong, I am ready to venture that a theory of inquiry is not to be gained for nothing. If I try to base this claim on the evidence of all previous attempts, in both my own and others' trials, having already failed, then it is certain only that no positive proof can arise from so negative a recommendation. Acquiring a theory of inquiry is not, in sum, a purely inductive exercise.

4.1.2. The Pragmatic Framework : Sign-Theoretic Approaches

I would like to introduce a pair of ideas from pragmatism that can help to address the issues of knowledge and inquiry in an integrated way.

The first idea is that knowledge is a product of inquiry. The impact of this idea is that one's interest in knowledge shifts to an interest in the process of inquiry that is capable of yielding knowledge as a result. In the pragmatic perspective, the theory of knowledge, or epistemology, is incorporated within a generative theory of inquiry. The result is a theory of inquiry that treats it as a general form of conduct, that is, as a dynamic process with a deliberate purpose.

The second idea is that all thought takes place in signs. This means that all thinking occurs within a general representational setting that is called a "sign relation". As a first approximation, a sign relation can be thought of as a triadic relation or a three place transaction that exists among the various domains of objects, signs, and ideas that are involved in a given situation. For example, suppose that there is a duck on the lake (this is an object); one refers to it by means of the word "duck" (this is a sign) and one has has an image of the duck in one's mind (this is an idea).

Since an inquiry is a special case of a thought process, an activity that operates on sign and ideas in respect of certain objects, this means that the theory of inquiry and the theory of sign relations are very tightly integrated within this point of view, and are almost indistinguishable. Putting the idea that knowledge is a product of inquiry together with the idea that inquiry takes place within a sign relation, one can even say that the inquiry itself, or the production of knowledge, is just the transformation of a sign relation.

Generally speaking, a transformation of a sign relation allows any numbers of objects, signs, and ideas that are involved in a given situation to be engaged in process of change. For example, adding a new word to one's vocabulary, such as the word "mallard" for that which one formerly called a "duck", is just one of many ways that a sign relation can be transformed.

Constant references to "transformations of sign relations", or else to "sign relational transformations", can eventually become a bit unwieldy, and so I assign them the briefer name of "pragmatic transformations". Considered in their full generality, the potential array of pragmatic transformations that one might find it necessary to consider can be very general indeed, exibiting an overwhelming degree of complexity. To deal with this level of complexity, one needs to find strategies for approaching it in stages. Two common tactics are: (1) to classify special types of pragmatic transformations in terms of which kinds of entities are changing the most, and (2) to focus on special cases of pragmatic transformations in which one class of entities is fixed.

If one intends to study processes of development that are every bit as general as "cultural transformations", in which all of the artifacts, symbols, and values are capable of being thrown into a state of flux, then I suggest that pragmatic transformations are a relatively generic but a reasonably well defined form of intermediate case, in other words, a suitable type of transitional object.

What I just gave was the popular version of the theory of signs. This much was already evident in Aristotle's work On Interpretation and was probably derived from Stoic sources. It is still the most natural and intuitive way to approach the idea of a sign relation. But within the frame of pragmatism proper, a number of changes need to be worked on the idea of a sign relation, in order to make it a more exact and more flexible instrument of thought.

From a pragmatic perspective, ideas are taken to be signs in the mind. In this role they come to serve as special cases of "interpretant signs", those that follow other signs in the ongoing process of interpretation. As far as their essential qualities go, signs and ideas can be classed together, though a sign and its interpretant can still be distinguished by their roles in relation to each other. At this point, the reader is probably itching to ask: Where is the interpreter in all of this? Ultimately, signs and ideas can be recognized as features that affect or indirectly characterize the state of the interpretive agent, and their specifications can even be sharpened up to point that one can say it is the states of the interpreter that are the real signs and interpretants in the process. This observation, that Peirce summed up by saying that the person is a sign, has consequences for bringing about a synthesis between the theory of sign relations and the theory of dynamic systems.

4.1.3. The Dynamical Framework : System-Theoretic Approaches

“Inquiry” is a word in common use for a process that resolves doubt and creates knowledge. Computers are involved in inquiry today, and are likely to become more so as time goes on. The aim of my research is to improve the service that computers bring to inquiry. I plan to approach this task by analyzing the nature of inquiry processes, with an eye to those elements that can be given a computational basis.

I am interested in the kinds of inquiries which human beings carry on in all the varieties of learning and reasoning from everyday life to scientific practice. I would like to design software that people could use to carry their inquiries further, higher, faster. Needless to say, this could be an important component of all intelligent software systems in the future. In any application where a knowledge base is maintained, it will become more and more important to examine the processes that deliver the putative knowledge.

4.1.3.1. Inquiry and Computation

Three questions immediately arise in the connection between inquiry and computation. As they reflect on the concept of inquiry, these questions have to do with its integrity, its effectiveness, and its complexity.

1. Integrity. Do all the activities and all the processes that are commonly dubbed "inquiry" have anything essential in common?
2. Effectiveness. Can any useful parts of these so called inquiries be automated in practice?
3. Complexity. Just how deep is the analysis, the disassembly, or the "takedown" of inquiry that is required to reach the level of routine steps?

The issues of effectiveness and complexity are discussed throughout the remainder of this text, but the problem of integrity must be dealt with immediately, since doubts about it can interfere with the very ability to use the word "inquiry" in this discussion.

Thus, I must examine the integrity, or well-definedness, of the very idea of inquiry, in other words, "inquiry" as a general concept rather than a catch all term. Is the faculty of inquiry a principled capacity, leading to a disciplined form of conduct, or is it only a disjointed collection of unrelated skills? As it is currently carried out on computers, inquiry includes everything from database searches, through dynamic simulation and statistical reasoning, to mathematical theorem proving. Insofar as these tasks constitute specialized efforts, each one needs software that is tailored to the individual purpose. To the extent that these different modes of investigation contribute to larger inquiries, present methods for coordinating their separate findings are mostly ad hoc and still a matter of human skill. Thus, one can question whether the very name "inquiry" succeeds in referring to a coherent and independent process.

Do all the varieties of inquiry have something in common, a structure or a function that defines the essence of inquiry itself? I will say "yes". One advantage of this answer is that it brings the topic of inquiry within human scope, and also within my capacity to research. Without this, the field of inquiry would be impossible for any one human being to survey, because a person would have to cover the union of all the areas that employ inquiry. By grasping what is shared by all inquiries, I can focus on the intersection of their generating principles. Another benefit of this alternative is that it promises a common medium for inquiry, one in which the many disparate pieces of our puzzling nature may be bound together in a unified whole.

When I look at other examples of instruments that people have used to extend their capacities, I see that two questions must be faced. First, what are the principles that enable human performance? Second, what are the principles that can be augmented by available technology? I will refer to these two issues as the question of original principles and the question of technical extensions, respectively. Following this model leads me to examine the human capacity for inquiry, asking which of its principles can be reflected in the computational medium, and which of its faculties can be sharpened in the process. It is not likely that everybody with the same interests and applications would answer these questions the same way, but I will describe how I approach them, what has resulted so far, and what directions I plan to explore next.

The focus of my work will narrow in three steps. First, I will concentrate on the design of intelligent software systems that support inquiry. Then, I will select mathematical systems theory as an indispensable tool, both for the analysis of inquiry itself and for the design of programs to support it. Finally, I will develop a theory of qualitative differential equations, implement methods for their computation and solution, and apply the resulting body of techniques to two kinds of recalcitrant problems, (1) those where an inquiry must begin with too little information to justify quantitative methods, and (2) those where a complete logical analysis is necessary to identify critical assumptions.

4.1.3.2. Inquiry Driven Systems

The stages of work just described lead me to introduce the concept of an "inquiry driven system". In rough terms, this type of system is designed to integrate the functions of a data driven adaptive system and a rule driven intelligent system. The idea is to have a system whose adaptive transformations are determined, not just by learning from observations alone, or else by reasoning from concepts alone, but by the interactions that occur between these two sources of knowledge. A system which combines different contributions to its knowledge base, much less the mixed modes of empirical and rational types of knowledge, will find its next problem lies in reconciling the mismatches that arise between these sources. Thus, one arrives at the concept of an adaptive knowledge-base whose changes over time are driven by the differences that it encounters between what is observed in the data it gathers and what is predicted by the laws it knows. This sounds, at the proper theoretical distance, like an echo of an error-controlled cybernetic system. Moreover, it falls in line with the general description of scientific inquiry. Finally, it raises the interesting possibility that good formulations of these "differences of opinion" might allow one to find differential laws for the time evolution of inquiry processes.

There are several implications of my approach that I need to emphasize. Many distractions can be avoided if I continue to guide my approach by the two questions raised above, of principles and extensions, and if I guard against confusing what they ask and do not ask. The issues that surround these points, concerning the actual nature and the possible nurture of the capacity for inquiry, can be taken up shortly. But first I need to deal with a preliminary source of confusion. This has to do with the two vocabularies, the language of the application domain, that talks about the higher order functions and intentions of software users, and the language of the resource domain, that describes the primitive computational elements to which software designers must try to reduce the problems that confront them. I am forced to use, or at least to mention, both of these terminologies in my effort to bridge the gap between them, but each of them plays a different role in the work.

In studies of formal specifications the designations "reduced language" and "reducing language" are sometimes used to discuss the two roles of language that are being encountered here. It is a characteristic of some forms of reductionism to call a language "reduced" simply because it is intended to be reduced and long before it is actually reduced, but aside from that this language of "reduced" and "reducing" can still be useful. The reduced language, or the language that is targeted to be reduced, is the language of the application, practice, or target domain. The reducing language, or the language that is intended to provide the sources of explanation and the resources for reduction, is the language of the resource, method, or base domain. I will use all of these terms, with the following two qualifications.

First, I need to note a trivial caution. One's sense of "source" and "target" will often get switched depending on one's direction of work. Further, these terms are reserved in category theory to refer to the domain and the codomain of a function, mapping, or transformation. This will limit their use, in the above sense, to informal contexts.

Now, I must deal with a more substantive issue. In trying to automate even a fraction of such grand capacities as intelligence and inquiry, it is seldom that we totally succeed in reducing one domain to the other. The reduction attempt will usually result in our saying something like this: That we have reduced the capacity A in the application domain to the sum of the capacity B in our base domain plus some residue C of unanalyzed abilities that must be called in from outside the basic set. In effect, the residual abilities are assigned to the human side of the interface, that is, they are attributed to the conscious observation, the common sense, or the creative ingenuity of users and programmers.

In the theory of recursive functions, this situation is expressed by saying that A is a "relatively computable" function, more specifically, that A is computable relative to the assumption of an "oracle" for C. For this reason, I usually speak of "relating" a task A to a method B, rather than fully "reducing" it. A measure of initial success is often achieved when a form of analysis relates or connects an application task to a basic method, and this usually happens long before a set of tasks are completely reduced to a set of methods. The catch is whether the basic set of resources is already implemented, or is just being promised, and whether the residual ability has a lower complexity than the original task, or is actually more difficult.

At this point I can return to the task of analyzing and extending the capacity for inquiry. In order to enhance a human capacity it is first necessary to understand its process.

To extend a human capacity we need to know the critical functions which support that ability, and this involves us in a theory of the practice domain. This means that most of the language describing the target functions will come from sources outside the areas of systems theory and software engineering. The first thoughts that we take for our specs will come from the common parlance that everyone uses to talk about learning and reasoning, and the rest will come from the special fields which study these abilities, from psychology, education, logic and the philosophy of science. This particular hybrid of work easily fits under the broad banner of artificial intelligence, yet I need to repeat that my principal aim is not to build any kind of autonomous intelligence, but simply to amplify our own capacity for inquiry.

There are many well-reasoned and well-respected paradigms for the study of learning and reasoning, any one of which I might have chosen as a blueprint for the architecture of inquiry. The model of inquiry that works best for me is one with a solid standing in the philosophy of science and whose origins are entwined with the very beginnings of symbolic logic. Its practical applications to education and social issues have been studied in depth, and aspects of it have received attention in the AI literature (Refs 1-8). This is the pragmatic model of inquiry, formulated by C.S. Peirce from his lifelong investigations of classical logic and experimental reasoning. For my purposes, all this certification means is that the model has survived many years of hard knocks testing, and is therefore a good candidate for further trial. Since we are still near the beginning of efforts to computerize inquiry, it is not necessary to prove that this is the best of all possible models. At this early stage, any good ideas would help.

My purpose in looking to the practical arena of inquiry and to its associated literature is to extract a body of tasks that are in real demand and to start with a stock of plausible suggestions for ways to meet their requirements. Some of what one finds depicted in current pictures of learning and reasoning may turn out to be inconsistent or unrealizable projections, beyond the scope of any present methods or possible technology to implement. This is the very sort of thing that one ought to be interested in finding out! It is one of the benefits of submitting theories to trial by computer that we obtain this knowledge. Of course, the fact that no one can presently find a way to render a concept effectively computable does not prove that it is unworkable, but it does place the idea in a different empirical class.

This should be enough to say about why it is sometimes necessary to cite the language of other fields and to critically reflect on the associated concepts in the process of doing work within the disciplines of systems theory and software engineering. To sum it up, it is not a question of entering another field or absorbing its materials, but of finding a good standpoint on one's own grounds from which to tackle the problems that the outside world presents.

Sorting out which procedures are effective in inquiry and finding out which functions are feasible to implement is a job can be done better in the hard light demanded by formalized programs. But there is nothing wrong in principle with a top down approach, so long as one does come down, that is, so long as one eventually descends from a level of purely topical reasoning. I will follow the analogy of a recursive program that progresses down discrete steps to its base, stepwise refining the topics of higher level specifications to arrive at their more concrete details. The best reinforcement for such a program is to maintain a parallel effort that builds up competencies from fundamentals.

Once I have addressed the question of what the principles are that enable human inquiry it brings me to the question of how I would set out to improve the human capacity for inquiry by computational means.

Within the field of AI there are many ways of simulating and supporting learning and reasoning that would not involve me in systems theory proper, that is, in reflecting on mathematically defined systems or in considering the dynamics that automata trace out through abstract state spaces. However, I have chosen to take the system-theoretic route for several reasons, which I will now discuss.

First, if we succeed in understanding intelligent inquiry in terms of system-theoretic properties and processes, it equips this knowledge with the greatest degree of transferability between comparable systems. In short, it makes our knowledge robust, and not narrowly limited to a particular instantiation of the target capacity.

Second, if we organize our thinking in terms of a coherent system or integrated agent which carries out inquiries, it helps to manage the complexity of the design problem by splitting it into discrete stages. This strategy is especially useful in dealing with the recursive or reflexive quality that bedevils all such inquiries into inquiry itself. This aspect of self-application in the problem is probably unavoidable, due to the following facts. Human beings are complex agents, and any system likely to support significant inquiry is bound to surpass the complexity of most systems we can fully analyze today. Research into complex systems is one of the jobs that will depend on intelligent software tools to advance in the future. For this we need programs that can follow the drift of inquiry and perhaps even scout out fruitful directions of exploration. Programs to do this will need to acquire a heuristic model of the inquiry process they are designed to assist. And so it goes. Programs for inquiry will pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Taking as given the system-theoretic approach from now on, I can focus and rephrase my question about the technical enhancement of inquiry. How can we put computational foundations under the theoretical models of inquiry, at least, the ones we discover to be accessible? In more detail, what is the depth and content of the task analysis that we need to relate the higher order functions of inquiry with the primitive elements given in systems theory and software engineering? Connecting the requirements of a formal theory of inquiry with the resources of mathematical systems theory has led me to the concept of inquiry driven systems.

The concept of an inquiry driven system is intended to capture the essential properties of a broad class of intelligent systems, and to highlight the crucial processes which support learning and reasoning in natural and cultural systems. The defining properties of inquiry driven systems are discussed in the next few paragraphs. I then consider what is needed to supply these abstractions with operational definitions, concentrating on the terms of mathematical systems theory as a suitable foundation. After this, I discuss my plans to implement a software system which is designed to help analyze the qualitative behavior of complex systems, inquiry driven systems in particular.

An inquiry driven system has components of state, accessible to the system itself, which characterize the norms of its experience. The idea of a norm has two meanings, both of which are useful here. In one sense, we have the descriptive regularities which are observed in summaries of past experience. These norms are assumed to govern the expectable sequences of future states, as determined by natural laws. In another sense, we have the prescriptive policies which are selected with an eye to future experience. These norms govern the intendable goals of processes, as controlled by deliberate choices. Collectively, these components constitute the knowledge base or intellectual component of the system.

An inquiry driven system, in the simplest cases worth talking about, requires at least three different modalities of knowledge component, referred to as the expectations, observations, and intentions of the system. Each of these components has the status of a theory, that is, a propositional code which the agent of the system carries along and maintains with itself through all its changes of state, possibly updating it as the need arises in experience. However, all of these theories have reference to a common world, indicating under their varying lights more or less overlapping regions in the state space of the system, or in some derivative or extension of the basic state space.

The inquiry process is driven by the nature and extent of the differences existing at any time among its principal theories, for example, its expectations, observations, and intentions. These discrepancies are evidenced by differences in the sets of models which satisfy the separate theories. Normally, human beings experience a high level of disparity among these theories as a dissatisfying situation, a state of cognitive discord. For people, the incongruity of cognitive elements is accompanied by an unsettled affective state, in Peirce's phrase, the "irritation of doubt". A person in this situation is usually motivated to reduce the annoying disturbance by some action, all of which activities we may classify under the heading of inquiry processes.

Without insisting on strict determinism, we can say that the inquiry process is lawful if there is any kind of informative relationship connecting the state of cognitive discord at each time with the ensuing state transitions of the system. Expressed in human terms, a difference between expectations and observations is experienced as a surprise to be explained, a difference between observations and intentions is experienced as a problem to be solved. We begin to understand a particular example of inquiry when we can describe the relation between the intellectual state of its agent and the subsequent action that the agent undertakes.

These simple facts, the features of inquiry outlined above, already raise a number of issues, some of which are open problems that my research will have to address. Given the goal of constructing supports for inquiry on the grounds of systems theory, each of these difficulties is an obstacle to progress in the chosen direction, to understanding the capacity for inquiry as a systems property. In the next few paragraphs I discuss a critical problem to be solved in this approach, indicating its character to the extent I can succeed at present, and I suggest a reasonable way of proceeding.

In human inquiry there is always a relation between cognitive and affective features of experience. We have a sense of how much harmony or discord is present in a situation, and we rely on the intensity of this sensation as one measure of how to proceed with inquiry. This works so automatically that we have trouble distinguishing the affective and cognitive aspects of the irritating doubt that drives the process. In the artificial systems we build to support inquiry, what measures can we take to supply this sense or arrange a substitute for it? If the proper measure of doubt cannot be formalized, then all responsibility for judging it will have to be assigned to the human side of the interface. This would greatly reduce the usefulness of the projected software.

The unsettled state which instigates inquiry is characterized by a high level of uncertainty. The settled state of knowledge at the end of inquiry is achieved by reducing this uncertainty to a minimum. Within the framework of information theory we have a concept of uncertainty, the entropy of a probability distribution, as being something we can measure. Certainly, how we feel about entropy does not enter the equation. Can we form a connection between the kind of doubt that drives human inquiry and the kind of uncertainty that is measured on scales of information content? If so, this would allow important dynamic properties of inquiry driven systems to be studied in abstraction from the affective qualities of the disagreements which drive them. With respect to the measurable aspects of uncertainty, inquiry driven systems could be taken as special types of control systems, where the variable to be controlled is the total amount of disparity or dispersion in the knowledge base of the system.

The assumption of modularity, that the affective and intellectual aspects of inquiry can be disentangled into separate components of the system, is a natural one to make. Whenever it holds, even approximately, it simplifies the task of understanding and permits the analyst or designer to assign responsibility for these factors to independent modules of the simulation or implementation.

However, this assumption appears to be false in general, or true only in approaching certain properties of inquiry. Other features of inquiry are not completely understandable on this basis. To tackle the more refractory properties, I will be forced to examine the concept of a measure which separates the affective and intellectual impacts of disorder. To the extent that this issue can be resolved by analysis, I believe that it hinges on the characters that make a measure objective, that is, an impression whose value is invariant over many different perspectives and interpretations, as opposed to being the measure of a purely subjective moment, that is, an impression whose value is limited to a special interpretation or perspective.

The preceding discussion has indicated a few of the properties that are attributed to inquiry and its agents and has initiated an analysis of their underlying principles. Now I engage the task of giving these processes operational definitions in the framework of mathematical systems theory.

Consider the inquiry driven system as described by a set of variables:

x1, ... , xn, a1, ... , ar.

The xi are regarded as ordinary state variables and the aj are regarded as variables codifying the state of knowledge with respect to a variety of different questions. Many of the parameters aj will simply anticipate or echo the transient features of state that are swept out in reality by the ordinary variables xi. This puts these information variables subject to fairly direct forms of interpretation, namely, as icons and indices of the ordinary state of the system. However, in order for the system to have a knowledge base which takes a propositional stance with respect to its own state space, other information variables among the aj will have to be used in less direct ways, in other words, made subject to more symbolic interpretations. In particular, some of them will be required to serve as the signs of logical operators.

The most general term that I can find to describe the informational parameters aj is to call them "signs". These are the syntactic building blocks that go into constructing the various knowledge bases of the inquiry driven system. Although these variables can be employed in a simple analogue fashion to represent information about remembered, observed, or intended states, ultimately it is necessary for the system to have a formal syntax of expressions in which propositions about states can be represented and manipulated. I have already implemented a fairly efficient way of doing this, using only three arbitrary symbols beyond the set that is used to echo the ordinary features of state.

A task that remains for future work is to operationalize a suitable measure of difference between alternative propositions about the world, that is, to sort out competing statements about the state space of the system. A successful measure will gauge the differences in objective models and not be overly sensitive to unimportant variations in syntax. This means that its first priority is to recognize logical equivalence classes of expressions, in other words, to discriminate between members of different equivalence classes, but to respond in equal measure to every member of the same equivalence class. This requirement brings the project within the fold of logical inquiry. Along with finding an adequate measure of difference between propositions, it is necessary to specify how these differences can determine, in some measure, the state transitions of an inquiry driven system. At this juncture, a variety of suggestive analogies arise, connecting the logical or qualitative problem just stated with the kinds of questions that are commonly treated in differential geometry and in geometric representations of dynamics.

4.2. The Context of Inquiry

4.2.1. The Field of Observation

My discussion of these questions will be organized in the following way. I use the term "pragmatic object" to describe any form of conduct or any pattern of activity that attracts one's attention and that comes to form the focus of a deliberate consideration. This usage is intended to reflect the meaning of the Greek word "pragma", that covers the sphere of senses from objects and objectives to purposes, issues, and concerns. In fact, I consistently use the word "object" in precisely this sense, regarding even the ordinary sorts of physical objects as special cases of processes that appear to be going on in the external world and that seem to demand the specialized activities of orientation on the part of their observers. The forms of conduct that commonly and spontaneously attract one's interest are considered to take place within a catch all setting that I call the "informal context". This name simply reflects the fact that most of the things that come to one's attention are capable of attracting one's interest long before one is capable of understanding them or even carefully describing them.

Whenever one reflects on a form of conduct or observes a pattern of activity in the informal context, and is successfully motivated to articulate one's reflections and observations, then one generates a description, a text or an image that depicts something going on in the world. Depending on the angle of approach, the attitude of observation, the point of view, or the line of sight that one takes up with respect to a pragmatic object, one will be able to observe different aspects of it. Of course, I am using this visual terminology in ways that are partly metaphorical, and there are times when it will be necessary to reflect on whether this style of spectator language is leading us into illusions.

Operating on the tacit assumption that one is able to articulate one's observations and reflections, the end of the process of observation or reflection is to generate a description of the object under consideration. This description represents a first step toward a formalization of the conduct in question, and so I can place the end result of this entire process within a conceptual area that I call the "formal context". From this point on, it is convenient to use the name "formalization" to sum up all of the effects of observation, reflection, articulation, and description that produce an image in the formal context. A number of signficant features of this situation need to be noted at this point.

The line between the formal context and the informal context is not intended to be hard and fast. It merely marks a relative difference in the character of a description.

The formal context is wholly contained within the informal context. Remember, I did call the informal context a "catch all" setting. Thus, the acts of demarcation that one uses to distinguish the formal context, along with the acts of formalization that lead into it, are just the kinds of intentional activities that are likely to form the most interesting sorts of pragmatic objects.

Descriptions are necessarily partial. This statement is conditioned on the fact that the typical object of interest is most likely well beyond anyone's capacity to describe completely, at least, while I continue to talk about finite agents and mortal observers. This means that different observers, or the same observers under different conditions, are likely to end up describing different aspects of the same activity.

At the level of communities these differences and partialities tend to become embodied and institutionalized into specialized disciplines, represented by areas within the formal context that I describe as "formal arenas". A typical formal arena is dedicated to a particular angle of approach or a special attitude of observation toward whatever activities in the informal context happen to fall under its purview. Participants in a formal arena devote themselves to sharpening their view of the aspect in question. In time, a formal arena will usually develop a specialized language, and even a peculiar interpretation of selected terms in the common language, all the better to focus on its chosen aspect of the activity in question.

At first for reasons of simple efficiency, and later by dint of inveterate and unreflective habits, formal arenas gradually develop the structures of bunkers, duck blinds, ivory towers, and silos, with opaque barriers coming to grow up or being erected around its perimeter that obstruct the view of the informal context from other directions than along their favorite and habitual lines of vision. When the relationship between a formal arena and the informal context reaches this stage of development, the boundaries are no longer permeable but appear to be cast in stone.

Analysis has acquired a privileged role in this process of differentiation. But if it succeeds to the throne of knowledge and comes to dominate the field of observation, it is only by default, on account of the absence of a balanced attention being accorded to the process of integration, due to the notion that synthesis can be left to the last, and justified by the fond hope that all disharmonies that are generated in the meantime can be atoned for in the end. It is a feature of modernism that it produces an overemphasis on the analytic aspect of the process of description while marginalizing or trivializing the synthetic component.

Out of this problematic situation one can see emerging three important issues. The first arises as a simplifying assumption but hardens into the character of a dogmatic thesis, the "triviality of integration" hypothesis. The next concerns the tension between the informal context and the formal context, along with the tensions that develop among the various formal arenas. The last is the problematic of communication that is created by differing styles of mental models and preserved through a lack of appreciation for how the several aspects of representation are themselves meant to be integrated into a coherent and competent whole.

In the attempt to reflect on our own theories of knowledge, to inquire into the nature of inquiry, and to form a coherent theory that serves as a competent guide for how to improve our performance in learning and reasoning, we encounter a couple of extremely bewildering difficulties: One problem threatens to keep us from getting started in any sensible direction at all. The other problem finds us in the middle of a mass of indications, that we typically collect in the meantime, and leaves us at a loss about how to sum up and how to draw even a tentative conclusion.

It is necessary to distinguish these skeptical questions of methodology from the more substantive issues that I described at the outset of this discussion. Because these problems of process are so elusive, defeating even the attempt to give them initial names or to find them final terms, I resort to calling them the "alpha problem" and the "omega problem", respectively. The first can be roughly characterized as involving a problem of reflection, while the last can be roughly characterized as involving a problem of reconstruction. In essence, each problem is more like a generic source of problems, or a general problem area from which a multitude of further difficulties can be found to arise. Each of these problem areas contains an especially acute instance, that I abstractly refer to as the "initial dilemma" and the "final dilemma", respectively.

The initial dilemma can be recognized as a dilemma of reflective inquiry. It is typically resolved only by making a plausible hypothesis and then moving on from there to see how one's guesses fare. The final dilemma can be described as a dilemma of critical democracy. It arises from a confrontation between two persistent factors, opposing one of the most favored notions of the modern point of view with the sheer unlikelihood that it is really true. The notion underlying the dilemma is the same "triviality of integration" hypothesis that modernism received from its classical foundations and extended with little change of direction up to the present time. The unlikelihood of its truth that is becoming more apparent, forces us to find ways, not simply of denying it in principle, but of generating constructive and livable alternative to its habitual structures, those that are built into our present cultural institutions. These problems and dilemmas are discussed in the next two subsections, after which I return to the main concern, namely, to remedy the consequences of the long held notion that integration is trivial.

4.2.2. The Problem of Reflection

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself
But by reflection, by some other things.
		Julius Caesar, 1.2.53 55.

The faculty of reflection is the capacity to reflect on one's own conduct. This ability is commonly agreed to be an important ingredient in all of the efforts to improve conduct that are otherwise known as "learning". In this way, one comes to the questions: (1) whether a particular form of conduct is naturally reflective in and of itself, (2) whether it can be rendered reflective through the application of appropriate means, and (3) whether an individual or an organization can become more reflective, and thus more capable of criticizing and improving its own performance. Not too surprisingly, these questions are critical to the enterprises of achieving "reflective practice" and building "learning organizations", in essence, of studying and designing "self aware" and "self organizing" systems.

Reflection is an act of self observation that parallels the observation of others. This simple statement already conceals a host of difficulties. An observation can be simple act or a complex process, taking place at a single point in spacetime or extending over a multitude of dimensions. Even the term "observation" is equivocal, referring in a single breath to both the act and its articulation. With this much leeway in our speech, reflection can incorporate the observation of others and even the kinds of observation that are said to occur in the imagination, as when one speaks of "reflecting on a situation" to mean observing or imagining a situation that one is merely a part of, or only intends to be a party to.

Any form of observation, if it is articulated, issues in a description. A description is a verbal text or a visual image that can be judged according to how well it captures or conveys the nature of what lies under observation. Whether reflection on oneself is easier or harder than the analogous process of observing others — this is another question altogether. My present focus is on the role of reflection in learning or improving conduct.

When we observe a form of conduct in others that we desire to emulate, our task is to describe it well enough to ourselves that we are capable of reproducing the performance, at least, moderately well and more or less in accordance with our own style and taste. When we reflect on a form of conduct in ourselves that we wish to examine, to criticize, and to improve, the question is whether we can judge this performance with the same degree of detachment that we usually take in regard to others. But the first task is the same in either case, to arrive at a description that is clear enough to serve the purpose of improving conduct.

But how does the skill of reflection itself arise? Is it innate or is it learned, and if it is acquired in a succession of stages, then how can it be improved, except through reflection on itself? To put the question more generally, if inquiry is the form of conduct that occupies our interest, and if reflection is an integral part of inquiry, then how is inquiry made reflective, if not through reflection on itself and inquiry into itself? These questions lead to the dilemma of reflective inquiry.

This problem arises from the question: How do we know that our methods of inquiry are any good, that they lead to knowledge as a result? The horns of the dilemma are these:

a. If we say that our methods of inquiry are justified on the basis of authority, then we invite the charge of hypocrisy, and we are guilty of this charge if we continue to maintain that inquiry and authority are fundamentally different ways of deciding questions. Unless we make it clear that all pretence of inquiry reduces to a matter of authority, then we are merely dissembling a question that is already decided and posing it under the guise of a misleading name.

b. If we say that our methods of inquiry are justified on the basis of inquiry, then we invite the charge of begging the question, and we even run the risk of falling into an infinite regress. Unless we have hopes that the recursion of inquiry to itself is not one of those forms of self application that leads to paradox, then there is no good reason to choose the path of inquiry.

The presence of this dilemma at the roots of our reflective tradition and the influence of the various answers to it, as options that fill out the background of our common reflective field — all of these features are adequately illustrated by the way that Aristotle asks the question:

One might raise the question: if the mind is a simple thing, and not liable to be acted upon, and has nothing in common with anything else, ... how will it think, if thinking is a form of being acted upon? For it is when two things have something in common that we regard one as acting and the other as acted upon. And our second problem is whether the mind itself can be an object of thought. (Aristotle, On the Soul, III.iv.429b24-28, p.169)

Of the two choices, I confess to favoring the application of inquiry to itself, since I know that it is possible for a properly constructed recursive procedure to terminate with a determinate result and thus to render an account of itself that is ultimately well founded in the end. According to this strategy, which operates in the meantime more as a hope or a regulative principle than as an item of certified knowledge, but without which it is impossible to proceed at all, one acts as if the methods of inquiry can themselves be justified on the basis of inquiry. In order for this to be possible, methods of inquiry that come under suspicion need to be subject to examination by means of an inquiry into their workings, and those that are valid need to be validated through a study that compares their actual effects with their intended ends. Whatever the case, it seems that the sheer self consistency of inquiry as a way of life demands that its principles and methods can themselves be the subjects of inquiry, and unless this form of consistency is discovered to be an illusion then it deserves to be pursued.

4.3. The Conduct of Inquiry

4.3.5. The Stages of Inquiry

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• Contents • Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Appendices • References • Document History •

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