Popular in Arts and Humanities

Arts and Humanities

Titus Quinctius Flamininus’ “Italian triumph”

McGill University Michael Fronda

Arts and Humanities

Lincoln and the Jews

Brandeis University Jonathan Sarna

Arts and Humanities

Amputations and Convalescence

University of Western Australia Emily Brink

Art

Drawing on the past: Palladio, his precursors and knowledge of ancient architecture

University of Birmingham David Hemsoll

Art

Language, Sound, and Image in Wallace Berman’s Aleph, 1956–1966

University of San Diego Chelsea Behle Fralick

Arts and Humanities

Early Modern Natural Law Theories

University of Copenhagen Knud Haakonssen

Inquiring Minds Want to Improve

View more insights in Arts and Humanities - Philosophy

View more figures from Bentley University

View the page of Arianna Falbo

Read the Study

· Tools Cite Embed

Arianna Falbo discusses a series of cases which indicate that inquiry is not as narrow as these views suggest.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 21, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month.

Workspace

Faculti AI is thinking...

< >

Summary
Related Studies
Faculti AI
Key Points
Key Quotes
Translate
Transcript

Export as PDF

This video video discusses a philosophical exploration of inquiry and its aims, particularly within the field of epistemology. The speaker critiques the prevalent view that the primary goal of inquiry is to gain knowledge of an answer. They propose a more pluralistic understanding, suggesting that inquiry can pursue various epistemic improvements beyond simply acquiring knowledge.

The argument includes practical examples, such as two detectives investigating a murder; one is curious and does not know the answer, while the other does know they are the murderer yet behaves similarly. The speaker uses this to illustrate that simply knowing the answer does not imply engaging in genuine inquiry.

Additionally, real-life scenarios, such as a doctor double-checking a patient's file before surgery or someone wondering about the weather, reveal that inquiry can occur even when knowledge isn't the end goal. The speaker emphasizes that inquiry can yield deeper understanding, higher confidence, or clarification of misconceptions.

Ultimately, they argue for a broader conception of inquiry that accommodates various epistemic aims and suggests that productive inquiry is possible even when it does not lead to finding an answer. This video video perspective invites future investigation into how inquiry operates under different conditions, including those involving ignorance or initial misunderstanding.

Language:

Export as PDF

Export as PDF
It seems you've input a placeholder video ('..') instead of a specific document or video. If you can provide the title, author, or an excerpt of the video you are interested in, I would be happy to help you identify key quotes from it.

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.355 --> 00:01.835
A lot of the motivations for the project.

00:01.985 --> 00:03.595
Were kind of thinking through a lot

00:03.595 --> 00:06.995
of recent scholarship in epistemology, which has kind

00:06.995 --> 00:09.995
of shifted its focus on, inquiry

00:10.015 --> 00:12.555
and in particular, sort of questions surrounding

00:12.625 --> 00:14.435
what the goal or aim of inquiry is.

00:14.435 --> 00:15.555
Like, what are we trying to do when

00:15.555 --> 00:16.715
we're investigating questions?

00:17.735 --> 00:21.115
And a really sort of popular, influential view,

00:21.115 --> 00:23.275
that's been defended in recent literature as well as sort

00:23.275 --> 00:26.195
of older literature, is this idea that what we're trying

00:26.195 --> 00:27.315
to do when we ask a question

00:27.335 --> 00:28.995
and investigate into it is like, come

00:28.995 --> 00:30.435
to know the answer to that question.

00:31.915 --> 00:34.675
I think there's a lot of, good persuasive arguments

00:34.695 --> 00:37.995
for this position, but what I try to do in my work is

00:38.235 --> 00:41.155
to push back against this as sort of like the only goal

00:41.175 --> 00:43.795
or like the only reason why we engage in inquiry.

00:44.615 --> 00:47.475
Um, so I had to defend a position on which inquiry can

00:47.495 --> 00:48.955
aim among other things.

00:49.095 --> 00:50.475
Um, it can aim at knowledge,

00:50.495 --> 00:53.115
but it can also aim at other kinds of, of sort

00:53.115 --> 00:55.555
of epistemic goodies, like kinds of,

00:55.835 --> 00:58.115
positions we might wanna be in as a result

00:58.115 --> 00:59.755
of asking an investigating question.

00:59.815 --> 01:03.275
So for example, maybe we want like a deeper understanding

01:03.415 --> 01:04.675
of the answer to a question.

01:05.285 --> 01:07.595
Maybe we want a better sense of the answer.

01:08.165 --> 01:10.635
Maybe we wanna just like come to figure out whether

01:10.635 --> 01:13.235
or not the question we're asking is a good question, right?

01:13.635 --> 01:15.795
Identify any potential confusions we might have.

01:16.535 --> 01:20.195
Um, so in general, I'm kind of really coming at this,

01:20.245 --> 01:21.835
being motivated by this worry

01:21.835 --> 01:24.915
that perhaps this construes the aim of inquiry just sort

01:24.915 --> 01:26.115
of solely in terms of coming

01:26.115 --> 01:28.395
to gain knowledge a bit too narrowly.

01:28.495 --> 01:30.995
And I try to pitch a sort of more pluralistic understanding,

01:31.495 --> 01:33.915
in terms of epistemic improvements where

01:33.915 --> 01:36.075
that can be broadly, broadly construed.

01:36.305 --> 01:38.475
I'll say that a lot of my own motivations

01:38.475 --> 01:41.315
for this paper came from engaging with, some work

01:41.375 --> 01:45.195
by people like Jane Friedman, Dennis Whitcomb,

01:45.305 --> 01:48.115
even earlier than that sort of, Christopher Hook way,

01:48.115 --> 01:49.115
sort of one of a sort

01:49.115 --> 01:51.195
of earlier people really thinking about inquiry

01:51.375 --> 01:52.795
in relation to epistemology.

01:53.855 --> 01:57.035
Um, and maybe it'll be helpful to sort of give a kind

01:57.035 --> 01:59.315
of case study that's been really influential from Jane

01:59.315 --> 02:01.275
Friedman in pitching this idea

02:01.275 --> 02:02.835
that inquiry aims at knowledge.

02:03.015 --> 02:04.595
Should we, should we do that? Yeah. Okay.

02:04.975 --> 02:08.355
Um, so imagine a detective who's been like called in the

02:08.355 --> 02:10.715
middle of the night and you know,

02:10.915 --> 02:12.435
they're really startled and they go, my gosh.

02:12.435 --> 02:13.635
They answer the phone and they're like,

02:13.795 --> 02:16.035
A doctor's been murdered, and you need to go to the scene

02:16.035 --> 02:18.235
of the crime and investigate, you know,

02:18.335 --> 02:19.475
who, who committed this crime?

02:19.535 --> 02:22.435
Who murdered the doctor? So imagine you're the detective,

02:22.435 --> 02:24.075
you like rush over to the scene of the crime

02:24.535 --> 02:25.755
and you start to investigate.

02:25.755 --> 02:26.675
You're like super curious.

02:26.675 --> 02:28.035
You're like, my gosh, what happened?

02:28.095 --> 02:29.355
You interrogate witnesses.

02:30.055 --> 02:32.475
You, you know, you like closely look at all the clues at the

02:32.475 --> 02:34.395
scene of the crime and maybe like, come

02:34.395 --> 02:36.195
to know who committed the murder.

02:36.625 --> 02:38.515
Okay? So that's like the first kind of case.

02:39.335 --> 02:42.475
Now imagine a slight variation of that kind of case

02:42.605 --> 02:44.915
where you get a call, you're a detective,

02:44.915 --> 02:47.675
you get a call in the middle of the night, you're told

02:47.675 --> 02:49.075
that a doctor has been murdered,

02:49.135 --> 02:50.475
and you need to like go to the scene

02:50.475 --> 02:51.675
of the crime and investigate.

02:52.815 --> 02:55.435
So you wake up, you're like startled

02:55.895 --> 02:58.795
and you like rush to the scene of the crime, but you're

02:58.795 --> 03:01.325
Also, you know, very worried about what might happen

03:01.325 --> 03:03.645
because you yourself are the murderer, right?

03:04.145 --> 03:06.205
So like, you're like washing the blood off your hands.

03:06.205 --> 03:08.325
You're like wondering like, where did I leave any clues?

03:08.325 --> 03:10.605
Oh my gosh. Um, so you, you're like,

03:10.745 --> 03:12.925
you can imagine this person's like behaviorally

03:13.105 --> 03:15.205
indistinguishable from the first detective.

03:15.205 --> 03:16.885
They do all the same things. They, they know,

03:16.885 --> 03:20.045
they interview all the same, potential witnesses,

03:20.785 --> 03:23.325
but a key difference is like they already know the

03:23.325 --> 03:24.365
answer to the question, right?

03:24.365 --> 03:26.885
They already know who the murderer is 'cause it's them.

03:27.745 --> 03:30.285
Um, so one of the kind of upshots of,

03:30.345 --> 03:31.645
of comparing these two cases

03:31.645 --> 03:33.765
that Jane Friedman highlights across some of her,

03:33.765 --> 03:36.165
like really interesting work on this is

03:36.365 --> 03:37.565
that it doesn't really make sense

03:37.705 --> 03:39.685
to construe the second detective

03:39.985 --> 03:42.205
as really engaged in inquiry at all.

03:42.745 --> 03:44.605
And you might think a part of that is

03:44.605 --> 03:46.965
because they've already achieved the aim, right?

03:46.965 --> 03:48.845
They already know the answer to the question

03:48.845 --> 03:51.005
that they're cur that they're sort of investigating.

03:51.005 --> 03:53.325
In fact, it doesn't even make sense to construe them

03:53.345 --> 03:55.765
as being curious about the answer to the question.

03:56.195 --> 03:58.245
Whereas the first detective, you know,

03:58.515 --> 04:00.765
much more clearly an instance of inquiry, right?

04:00.835 --> 04:03.085
They don't know the answer, they're curious about it

04:03.085 --> 04:04.485
and they're trying to figure out the answer.

04:05.625 --> 04:06.845
Um, so cases like this

04:07.105 --> 04:08.965
and sort of among other arguments have been given

04:09.425 --> 04:10.525
to motivate this idea

04:10.525 --> 04:13.885
that when more inquiring into a question were like curious

04:13.985 --> 04:15.885
and we're trying to figure out the answer,

04:15.885 --> 04:17.565
perhaps we're trying to come to know the answer.

04:18.145 --> 04:20.645
In my work, I consider a broader range of cases,

04:20.815 --> 04:22.925
which I think put pressure on this idea

04:23.435 --> 04:26.605
that knowledge is like the sole or only aim of inquiry.

04:26.605 --> 04:27.685
It's like the only thing we're

04:27.685 --> 04:29.205
after when we're investigating questions.

04:30.265 --> 04:33.685
Um, so to see this consider, cases where

04:34.425 --> 04:36.845
you already know or you already believe an answer

04:36.865 --> 04:38.765
to the question that you're inquiring into,

04:39.305 --> 04:41.045
but it still seems appropriate

04:41.185 --> 04:43.885
or rational to continue investigating into a question.

04:44.025 --> 04:46.365
So imagine a really high stakes case.

04:46.385 --> 04:49.285
So imagine you're a doctor and you know, the morning

04:49.305 --> 04:52.485
before a really important sort of life saving surgery.

04:53.345 --> 04:54.805
You reviewed the patient's file

04:55.265 --> 04:57.445
and you know that it's the left kidney

04:57.555 --> 04:58.805
that needs to be removed.

04:59.955 --> 05:01.245
Nonetheless, right

05:01.245 --> 05:02.925
before you're about to perform the surgery,

05:03.435 --> 05:06.125
it'd be really easy to just like double check what,

05:06.125 --> 05:08.285
what kidney it was, you know, you already know

05:08.285 --> 05:11.485
that it's the left, but you wanna be absolutely sure you,

05:11.485 --> 05:12.925
you might even think this is what's needed

05:12.985 --> 05:14.725
to responsibly act in this case.

05:15.665 --> 05:17.445
So you investigate, you sort

05:17.445 --> 05:20.245
of open an inquiry into the question of which kidney it is

05:20.585 --> 05:23.005
and you recheck the patient's file, right?

05:23.425 --> 05:25.925
So I think here, you know, the answer to the question

05:26.505 --> 05:29.005
and what you're after is not knowledge of the answer,

05:29.185 --> 05:30.685
but instead some sort of deeper

05:31.105 --> 05:34.205
or sort of stronger epistemic standing, namely some,

05:34.205 --> 05:35.885
some kind of certainty or a higher degree

05:35.885 --> 05:37.045
of confidence in the answer.

05:38.465 --> 05:40.965
So if that's right, then it looks like you have an instance

05:40.985 --> 05:45.045
of inquiry, I think, I think intuitively irrational inquiry

05:45.755 --> 05:48.925
into a question where the agent already knows the answer.

05:49.745 --> 05:52.605
Um, and if that's right, this suggests that perhaps we ought

05:52.605 --> 05:54.965
to be thinking about the aim of inquiry in a sort

05:54.965 --> 05:56.685
of broader, more expansive way, right?

05:56.685 --> 05:58.005
It's not just about knowledge.

05:58.005 --> 05:59.005
This case suggests

05:59.355 --> 06:02.045
that it's also about like gaining a deeper understanding,

06:02.045 --> 06:04.885
gaining further confirmation, gaining a higher degree

06:04.885 --> 06:06.725
of confidence or certainty in the answer.

06:07.635 --> 06:11.645
Okay? I also think there's cases on the sort of other side,

06:11.865 --> 06:14.245
or sort of, sort of weaker standings

06:14.245 --> 06:16.205
that we might be seeking that fall short

06:16.205 --> 06:17.325
of coming to know the answer.

06:18.425 --> 06:21.525
So imagine that you are about to leave for work

06:21.945 --> 06:24.445
and you're wondering whether it'll rain later.

06:24.585 --> 06:26.845
That's sort of like the question you're puzzling over.

06:28.185 --> 06:30.125
You also happen to live in an environment

06:30.125 --> 06:32.085
where like the weather's pretty variable, right?

06:32.105 --> 06:35.965
So, you know, you look outside the clouds, you know,

06:35.965 --> 06:38.725
it's pretty clear and you think like, hmm, okay, you know,

06:38.925 --> 06:41.245
I I I have a sense that it probably won't rain later,

06:41.905 --> 06:43.405
but of course you don't know for sure.

06:43.625 --> 06:45.565
You don't know that it won't rain later,

06:45.615 --> 06:47.725
given your current evidential situation.

06:48.185 --> 06:51.365
You can't really come to know the answer to this question

06:51.385 --> 06:52.645
of whether it'll rain later.

06:53.715 --> 06:55.455
So if that's right, then according

06:55.475 --> 06:58.295
to a view on which knowledge is the sole aim of inquiry,

06:58.645 --> 07:01.215
it's kind of puzzling why you would even engage in this

07:01.495 --> 07:03.255
activity given that you couldn't achieve the aim.

07:04.555 --> 07:07.255
Um, but still I think you can inquire in these cases,

07:07.445 --> 07:09.855
even though it's not possible to achieve the aim, right?

07:09.915 --> 07:12.055
You can imagine the person walking up to the window,

07:12.055 --> 07:14.735
lifting the curtain, wondering if it'll rain later,

07:14.735 --> 07:16.775
looking up and being like, hmm, looks pretty clear.

07:17.355 --> 07:20.055
And as a result, having, you know, a higher degree

07:20.055 --> 07:22.135
of confidence that it won't rain later, a sort

07:22.135 --> 07:24.575
of a better sense or better idea of whether

07:24.575 --> 07:27.335
or not it'll rain later, even though they fall short

07:27.335 --> 07:28.855
of knowing or even being in a position

07:29.035 --> 07:30.415
to come to know the answer.

07:31.475 --> 07:33.215
Um, so I think these two kinds of cases,

07:33.285 --> 07:36.295
like on the one hand cases where you might seek a kind

07:36.295 --> 07:37.935
of epistemic improvement that goes

07:37.935 --> 07:39.935
beyond knowledge in the Dr. Case,

07:40.515 --> 07:42.895
but also other cases like this sort of rain case

07:43.265 --> 07:46.695
where I think we often can engage in inquiry even when we're

07:46.695 --> 07:49.215
looking, to, to gain a kind of improvement

07:49.215 --> 07:50.335
that fell short of knowledge.

07:50.355 --> 07:52.135
And in fact, when we couldn't gain knowledge,

07:52.695 --> 07:55.935
I wanna understand epistemic improvements like very broadly

07:56.045 --> 07:57.295
construed, right?

07:57.355 --> 08:00.095
So according to somebody who defends a sort

08:00.095 --> 08:01.375
of more traditional or sort

08:01.375 --> 08:03.135
of more popular knowledge aim of inquiry.

08:03.475 --> 08:05.695
So I wanna be able to capture knowledge

08:05.695 --> 08:07.295
as being an important thing we're

08:07.295 --> 08:09.255
after, when we're engaging in inquiry.

08:09.515 --> 08:12.175
But I just don't think that exhausts all the kinds

08:12.175 --> 08:13.935
of epistemic improvements that there are.

08:14.205 --> 08:15.335
It's like one important kind

08:15.335 --> 08:17.495
of epistemic improvement is coming to gain knowledge

08:17.495 --> 08:18.615
of the answer to a question,

08:19.355 --> 08:20.495
but there's also other kinds

08:20.495 --> 08:22.295
of epistemic improvements out there, right?

08:22.295 --> 08:24.535
I think inquiry has a lot to offer us beyond this.

08:25.235 --> 08:29.535
So inquiry can yield important understanding, it can yield,

08:30.035 --> 08:31.895
a higher level of confidence

08:31.895 --> 08:33.735
or certainty in the answer to the question.

08:34.515 --> 08:37.495
Um, it can also, you know, put us in a position

08:37.515 --> 08:41.655
to gain a better idea or a higher expected, credence or,

08:41.915 --> 08:44.775
or level of accuracy in the answer to a question, right?

08:44.775 --> 08:47.895
So in the rain case, what I think the Enquirer gets is like

08:48.135 --> 08:49.175
a better sense of whether

08:49.175 --> 08:50.255
or not it'll rain later

08:50.255 --> 08:52.335
where this falls short of knowing the answer.

08:53.555 --> 08:54.555
Um,

08:54.805 --> 08:57.485
More recently I've been thinking about a kind

08:57.485 --> 08:58.725
of epistemic improvement

08:58.725 --> 09:01.525
that might result from identifying a confused

09:01.545 --> 09:03.125
or mistaken belief, right?

09:03.125 --> 09:05.845
So say you're inquiring into a question that's sort

09:05.845 --> 09:08.285
of mistaken or it lacks a true answer.

09:08.305 --> 09:11.365
So say you're inquiring into, you know,

09:11.865 --> 09:14.525
why did Bertrand Russell quit smoking when in fact

09:14.585 --> 09:15.725
he never did, right?

09:15.865 --> 09:19.445
So maybe you have a confused or misguided belief here.

09:19.605 --> 09:23.045
I think a kind of epistemic improvement you might gain is

09:23.045 --> 09:24.445
like realizing that you were wrong

09:24.465 --> 09:27.565
or realizing that the question is somehow, defective

09:27.565 --> 09:29.685
or bad and now you're in a position

09:29.685 --> 09:31.285
to ask a better question, right?

09:31.285 --> 09:34.405
Or to sort of reconfigure your inquiry in a way that'll put

09:34.405 --> 09:36.285
you on the path to a sort of better kind

09:36.285 --> 09:37.405
of epistemic improvement.

09:37.745 --> 09:40.365
Um, so I think identifying false beliefs is also an

09:40.365 --> 09:42.285
important kind of epistemic improvement as well.

09:43.065 --> 09:44.245
If we begin

09:44.245 --> 09:47.325
to construe epistemic improvements in this broader way,

09:47.325 --> 09:51.285
if we begin to think about inquiry as not just this activity

09:51.315 --> 09:54.325
that we engage in, in order to come to know the answer

09:54.345 --> 09:57.645
to a question, I think this gives us a sort

09:57.645 --> 09:59.685
of broader way of understanding what we're up

09:59.685 --> 10:01.005
to when we're engaging in inquiry

10:01.005 --> 10:02.525
and investigating various questions.

10:03.185 --> 10:05.405
Um, so first upshot is sort of thinking about the goals

10:05.405 --> 10:09.165
of inquiry in a broader flexible, I think more, you know,

10:09.165 --> 10:10.725
forgiving and sort of more accurate

10:10.725 --> 10:12.845
to the actual practice, kind of way.

10:14.185 --> 10:16.825
I also think that, you know, a more general upshot is

10:16.825 --> 10:18.705
that we shouldn't think about inquiry

10:18.845 --> 10:21.705
as only successful if we come to like, figure out the answer

10:21.725 --> 10:22.825
to a question, right?

10:22.865 --> 10:25.305
I think there's all kinds of ways in which inquiry can be

10:25.305 --> 10:29.985
really productive and valuable even if, we don't come

10:29.985 --> 10:31.345
to find the answer to a question.

10:32.385 --> 10:34.425
I think this is gonna ultimately end up being really

10:34.425 --> 10:37.305
important in sort of an area of future research that I am,

10:37.325 --> 10:38.425
starting

10:38.445 --> 10:40.865
to pursue is like thinking about inquiries conducted from

10:40.865 --> 10:42.705
the position of radical ignorance

10:42.705 --> 10:46.625
or from the position of say, a child who might make a lot

10:46.625 --> 10:47.825
of mistakes when they're

10:48.065 --> 10:49.465
investigating questions for the first time.

10:50.165 --> 10:51.905
So we want our norms of inquiry.

10:51.925 --> 10:54.505
We want how we're understanding the conditions under which

10:54.505 --> 10:58.265
it's rational to inquire, to be compatible with thinking

10:58.265 --> 11:00.545
through, productive inquiries carried out

11:00.565 --> 11:02.785
by agents like children or agents who might be sort

11:02.785 --> 11:05.585
of radically wrong about, the subject matter

11:05.585 --> 11:06.625
that they're investigating

11:06.765 --> 11:07.825
and the ways in which their,

11:07.825 --> 11:09.945
their inquiry can still be productive nonetheless.

11:10.685 --> 11:12.905
Um, so yeah, that's sort of broad directions for,

11:12.965 --> 11:14.305
for future topics in this area.

Faculti AI can make mistakes