Research Catalog

Title

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

Author

Blachowicz, James, 1943-

Publication

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, ©1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 434 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

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 here 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 can be found 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 interpretations of the nature of 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.

Series Statement

SUNY series in philosophy

Uniform Title

SUNY series in philosophy.

Subject

• Inquiry (Theory of knowledge)
• Forschung
• Erkenntnistheorie
• Onderzoek
• Kennisverwerving

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 407-422) and index.

Contents

Introduction: The Mind's Own Method -- Inquiry Writ Large: Scientific Discovery -- Full Circle: The Return to Discovery -- Method without Novelty -- Novelty without Method -- The Logic of Correction -- Correction vs. Elimination -- Correction by Means of Elimination? -- Composite Responses and Partial Successes -- The Black Box Principle -- Toward a Logic of Discovery -- Generating Explanations from Facts -- Initial Hypothesis -- Predicted Observations -- Contrasted Actual Observations -- Proposed Hypothesis -- Determination of Explanatory Power -- Generating Facts from Explanations -- Initial Observations -- Proposed Hypothesis -- Contrasted Explanatory Hypothesis -- Predicted Observations -- Determination of Factuality -- Novelty and Method: Remarried -- The First Principle of Inquiry -- Ampliative Inference -- The Regulative Principle of Correction -- Maps of Discovery -- The Second Principle of Inquiry -- First-Order Maps -- Generation and Confirmation in Maps -- Second-Order Maps -- Second-Order Justification -- The Relativity of Result and the Scope of Inquiry -- Quantitative Variation and Intelligent Inquiry -- Reciprocal Justification: Stability without Foundations -- The Third Principle of Inquiry -- Some Earlier Views -- Reflective Equilibrium -- Neither Foundations nor Coherence -- Reciprocal Justification with Epistemic Privilege -- The Revisability of Observation Reports -- Reciprocal Justification at Different Cognitive Levels -- The Generality of Correction Theory.

ISBN

• 0791436411
• 9780791436417
• 079143642X
• 9780791436424

LCCN

97013473

OCLC

• ocm36676075
• 36676075
• SCSB-360027

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library