Seeing that philosophy is neither a natural nor a formal science, what kind of research

methodology does it employ? The simple answer to this question is reflection, which

literally means “thinking again”. When one is engaged in reflection, one is

reconsidering a belief or a judgment which one may have previously accepted without question, or without serious interrogation. Thus whereas most people simply make judgments about right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, justice and injustice, and truth and falsehood, philosophers seek to understand the meaning and justification of such concepts. This is why it has often been said that the sole business of philosophers is the finding of problems in what most people take for granted (de Crespigny and Minogue 1976, pp.xiv-xv).

In undertaking reflection, philosophy has several techniques at its disposal, some of which are outlined below.

1 While those readers who are professional philosophers

might find the outline superfluous, it is necessary to include it here in view of the

interdisciplinary nature of this journal. It is also helpful to bear in mind that there is

considerable overlapping among the techniques elucidated below, so that they are

identified as separate entities mainly for the purpose of enhancing clarity of thought

about the methodology of philosophy.

Не нашли, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском: