[Athena] [IHPST] Talk : Emmanuel Genot "Inquiry by Other Names"

[Peggy Tessier <peggy.tessier AT univ-paris1.fr>]

Title: Inquiry by Other Names

Speaker: Emmanuel Genot (University of Lund)

Date and Place: February 6, 2013 - 14h00, IHPST

Abstract: Hintikka has argued that the main problem of question-driven inquiry is: "Given the list of the 
propositions one has reached in a line of inquiry, which question should one ask next?" [1, p.98]. When we can 
treat all answers we receive as true (even for the sake of the argument), Hintikka claims that this problem is 
strategically equivalent to the following problem for deductive logic: "Which proposition should one use as the 
premise of  the next logical inference?" [ibid.] If Hinitkka is right, then contrary to a widespread view, at 
least some contexts of discovery are amenable to logical means. In the first part of my talk, I will present 
(informally) arguments based on algorithmic learning-theoretic approaches to inquiry which support Hintikka's 
conclusion. In the second part, I will lend support to another conclusion of Hintikka's, namely that his model of 
inquiry yields a "general theory of reasoning", by showing  its ability to explain experimental data on 
reasoning tasks, usually thought to be impervious to logical models. I will conclude that Hintikka's Interrogative 
model of Inquiry (IMI) is actually a sophisiticated model of "interrogative learning" and more generally an 
empirically adequate model of reasoning.

[1] Hintikka, "Presuppositions and other limitations of inquiry", in Socratic 
Epistemology, 2007, CUP


Can Baskent (IHPST, CNRS - Université Paris 1 - ENS)

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