Abstract
This paper reveals the nature of the phenomenon of “knowing.” This task is accomplished by asking what condition is necessary for this phenomenon to come into existence. This condition makes the description of “knowing” relevant in any particular situation. In this paper, we attempt to discover this condition within the ways interactions are organized.
In particular, we attempt to answer the above question by paying attention to the IRE sequence. The IRE sequence is known to be used to confirm oneʼs knowledge, and when that is so, it becomes a device that puts “knowing” into the foreground. At that time, inquiring about the condition by which the IRE sequence comes into existence overlaps with doing so for the condition by which phenomenon of “knowing” comes into existence. That is the reason for paying attention to the IRE sequence.
In this paper, interactions are analyzed under the policy of “interaction analysis as conceptual analysis.” Conceptual analysis is an analytical way which gives a clear view of our ways of using expressions. This is accomplished through describing connections between expressions. Interaction can be also examined by describing connections between the descriptive expressions of actions. Because of this, the two policies of conceptual analysis and interactional analysis are well matched.
What is revealed through interaction analysis is the following. “Knowing” is the phenomenon which comes into existence only on the condition that there is a possibility of “not knowing.” Various possibilities of “not knowing” constitute a multiplicity of language games of “knowing,” through appearing in various ways led by various practical tasks.
