Avery Archer - Colloquim

Q: The Aim of Inquiry

Q, an instance of inquiring into Q? One answer is that information gathering/analysis qualifies as inquiring into Q if and only if it is undertaken with the aim of achieving knowledge.  Call this the knowledge-aim view.  A second is that information gathering/analysis qualifies as inquiring into Q if and only if it is undertaken with the aim of achieving a (justified) belief.  Call this the belief-aim view.  I argue that both the knowledge-aim and belief-aim views should be rejected in favour of what I call the epistemic-improvement view.  According to the epistemic-improvement view, information gathering/analysis qualifies as inquiring into Q if and only if it is undertaken in order to improve one's epistemic standing with respect to the answer to Q.