Limit of inquiry

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In philosophy of science and philosophy in general, the limit of inquiry is the limits of human ability to inquire and answer questions about phenomena. In the 20th century several of these were well-documented or proposed in physics:

• The Planck length - actually a limit on distance itself.
• The Schrödinger's cat paradox.
• The Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
• The theorized event horizon of a black hole in special relativity.

The incompleteness theorem which limits the consistency or completeness of symbol systems is a related concern of the philosophy of mathematics. It does not directly relate to inquiry, however, only to proof.

There are also limits to inquiry from ethics, notably in medicine and biology, and from uniqueness, notably in ecology and psychology.

Concepts of truth have been profoundly shaped by realizing that truth must conform to these limits, beyond which any concept of truth is just speculation.

See also

• Inquiry
• Pragmatic maxim

 

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