The Prescriptive Technique

To prescribe is to recommend or to set down as a rule or guide. We alluded to the

prescriptive technique in the previous paragraph, when we pointed out that Plato’s

speculations on the best form of government resulted in a recommendation of the rule

98 Reginald M.J. Oduor

by an intellectual elite. In philosophy, prescription is undertaken in the study of

axiology, that is, the theory of values. Included in the study of axiology are aesthetics, ethics, social philosophy and political philosophy.

Philosophical reflection on values becomes necessary when people are no longer

certain about what is important, worthwhile or valuable for their lives. Faced, for

example, with conflicting moral standards or radically opposed ideologies, people

need to think about the whole foundation of morality and of society. At this point

philosophical reflection on values is unavoidable, even for the scientist (Njoroge and

Bennaars 1986, 17). Some of the contemporary issues requiring the use of the

prescriptive technique are such paradoxes as progress and poverty, scarcity in the

midst of plenty, and over-production and under- consumption. Using a specific set of

principles, the philosopher makes recommendations on how people ought to conduct

themselves (ethics), or provides a justification for the existence of human beings in

groups (social philosophy), or recommends the system of government which he or she thinks to be best suitable in a specific situation (political philosophy), or proposes

what constitutes real beauty (aesthetics).

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