Maatukathe IV Session 7

Maatukathe IV Session 7
30.05.2016
Mythic Society, Bangalore 
Minutes 

• Research Involves operating with concepts
• Conceiving knowledge: perception vs. action oriented 

Perception-Oriented Approach 

• Language and sense-perception are media of knowledge 
• Through language: not accessible to all (particular medium) 
• Through perception: accessible to all (universal medium)
• Intelligibles vs. sensibles 
• Intellect vs. senses
• Reason or intellect makes available the essence or nature of objects 
• A universal language of thought underlying the particular languages that people use 
• Theory as revealing the world of (ideal) objects, the intelligibles - the ideas, essences and nature 
• Theory construction as removing impediments to intellection 
• Objects and agents are prior to action
• Perception exhibits the agent - action - object scheme. 
• Cognition is either 
• an action by an agent on an object (making), or
• an effect on an agent by the object (causation or by god)

Action-Oriented Approach

• Action is prior to agents and objects
• Perception is a learnt skill (or action) (Cf: C S Pierce)
• The features and objects are distinguished depending on the practical task at hand
• Even the recognition of the practical task depends on training and the skills we possess
• Leant schemes of distinctions are at work while perceiving 

Action: Two Constitutive Relationships

• Means-Ends
• Means-Objects (objectives: objects are not independent of objectives

To identify and deal with objects is to operate with conceptual means. 

Action and Articulation

• Calling for action: "Fire!"
• Draw attention to features: "The tree is uprooted"
• Articulation also through gestures, graphs, maps, drawings etc. 

Action and Sign Action 

• Doing and showing 
• Actualisation vs. Schema 
• Performing vs. Cognizing 

Action in its schematic aspect is a sign. When the action is looked at as designed to be a sign, then it is a sign action. by iterating this, even in sign-action, one can distinguish "performing" from "cognizing" aspects. 

Knowing a fact versus understanding a concept 

- Things made vs. Things generated

- Use objects vs. Sign objects

- Making vs. Representing 

- Object talk vs. Meta talk

- Talk involving reflection and attention to ways f saying 

- Introduction of terms 

Talk: Subject and Predicate 

• Singular Statements: "Wall is white"
• Making statements by applying a predicate to a subject unleashes a host of implication threads. 
• Talking attentively and reflectively versus meta-talk 
• Construction, reconstruction and representation