Home

 

Texts

Resources

Sites

Contacts

 

Method

 

 

Definition (Reference books)
Definition (Nicholas Rescher)
Requirements (Nicholas Rescher)
Classical quotations (Renè Descartes)
Classical quotations (Immanuel Kant)

 

 

Definition

[1983, Third Edition] The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
"I. 2. - A special form of procedure adopted in any branch of mental activity, whether for exposition or for investigation.
3. - A way of doing anything, especially according to a regular plan."

[1977] Nicholas Rescher, Methodological Pragmatism, Basil Blackwell, Oxford
"A method is a generic device capable of repetitive application: indeed, there can be no such thing as an inherently one-time method."
"... anything that deserves this name [of method] must be a means of producing a certain type of result on any suitable occasion. And the working of a method (unlike a talent) is impersonal - it does not work just for X or Y, but for anybody. Methodological efficacy is a matter of how things go 'across the board' generally and in the long run. Thus, 'working' on one occasion does not have sufficiently general import, and 'failing' on one occasion is not necessarily invalidating. Accordingly, the instrumental justification is only to be sought at this generic and systematic plane." (Chapter I, p. 5)

 

Requirements

[1977] Nicholas Rescher, Methodological Pragmatism, Basil Blackwell, Oxford
"... the natural standard for the rational evaluation of methods is that of success.
The proper test of a method lies in its capacity to realize effectively and efficiently the sort of product that constitutes its teleological raison d'être. The justificatory rationale of a method thus turns on the pivotal issue of its serviceability, and the 'justification' of a method resides in an instrumental analysis that determines its suitability to the task in hand. The pivotal issue is the 'pragmatic' one of assessing whether the method actually works in practice." (Chapter I, p. 4)

 

Classical Quotations

[1629] René Descartes, Rules for the Direction of the Mind
"Method consists entirely in the order and disposition of the objects towards which our mental vision must be directed if we would find out any truth.
We shall comply with it exactly if we reduce involved and obscure propositions step by step to those that are simpler, and then starting with the intuitive apprehension of all those that are absolutely simple, attempt to ascend to the knowledge of all others by precisely similar steps."
(Rule V)

[1787, Second Edition] Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason
“Method is procedure according to principles.”
(II. Transcendental Doctrine of Method - Chapter IV)

 

[Home] [Top]