Month: August 2012
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The Art of Inquiry: Patience, courage, and openness
Excerpt from The Art of Inquiry. In this section of the book, I consider the importance of the virtues for living through a time of unclarity. * Patience Let’s recall that we are confused not about something insignificant but rather about what matters most to us. We were once hubristic, believing that we knew what…
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The Art of Inquiry: Bewilderment and the virtues
Excerpt from the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3 of The Art of Inquiry. Enjoy. * 2.6. Bewilderment, Redux So far, our itinerary has taken us a good ways: from our basic commitments (alive to X, fraught about Y) to a confrontation with our thinking in general to a space of possibilities.…
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Art of Inquiry, Chapter 2: Iterations
Excerpt from The Art of Inquiry, Chapter 2. * 2.3. Iterations Let’s turn to the second claim about ignorance. Recall: 2. I don’t really know what a suitable answer would be or, quite possibly, would look like (insight into ignorance); What does it mean to ‘not really know’ what a suitable answer would be? In some…
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The Art of Inquiry, Chapter 2: Confusion
Excerpt from The Art of Inquiry, Chapter 2. Please enjoy. * 2. Confusion 2.1. Preliminary Definition Rather than respond to Meno’s challenge head-on, Socrates shows him that and how a slave-boy can inquire. Afterward, Meno and Socrates put aside the search for a definition of virtue and resume their inquiry into the question of whether virtue…
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Art of Inquiry: Interlude–Meno’s Paradox of Inquiry
Excerpt from The Art of Inquiry. Interlude comes after Chapter 1 and before Chapter 2. Enjoy. * Interlude: Meno’s Paradox of Inquiry Is Meno fed up with Socrates? Could he be throwing up his hands when he accuses Socrates–earnestly or in jest–of being a ‘magician,’ of casting spells and bewitching and enchanting him? Or, likening Socrates…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 