[CG] Re: In the Way of Inquiry

Cf: In the Way of Inquiry • Formal Apology http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2023/01/12/in-the-way-of-inquiry-formal-apolo… Part 1 ====== Using “form” in the sense of “abstract structure”, the focus of my interest in this investigation is limited to the formal properties of the inquiry process. Among its chief constituents are numbered all the thinking and unthinking processes supporting the ability to learn and to reason. This formal apology, the apologetics of declaring a decidedly formal intent, will be used on numerous occasions to beg off a host of material difficulties and thus avoid the perceived necessity of meeting a multitude of conventional controversies. Category Double-Takes The first use of the formal apology is to rehabilitate certain classes of associations between concepts otherwise marked as category mistakes. The conversion is achieved by flipping from one side of the concept's dual aspect to the other as the context demands. Thus it is possible in selected cases to reform the characters of category mistakes in the manner of categorical “retakes” or “double-takes”. Conceptual Extensions The second use of the formal apology is to permit the tentative extension of concepts to novel areas, giving them experimental trial beyond the cases and domains where their use is already established in the precedents of accustomed habit and successful application. This works to dispel the “in principle” objection that any category distinction puts a prior constraint on the recognition of similar structure between materially dissimilar domains. It leaves the issue a matter to be settled by post hoc judgment, a matter of what fits best “in practice”. Regards, Jon (https://mathstodon.xyz/@Inquiry)