Philosophical Methods: From Socrates to Modernity
The Maieutic Method
This method involves a dialogue directed wisely, according to the rules of correct knowledge. Created by Socrates but put into practice by his disciple, Plato. Maieutics is related to birth. It argues that truth lies in our reason and that essential questions prompt analysis. Responses must arrive at a definitive answer. Truth is achieved through dialogue based on reasoned arguments.
The Physical Method
Aristotle opposes the maieutic method. He believed one must search for reason from external experience (empirical), namely physical data collected by our senses. Everything must start from observation and the information our senses provide, with the purpose of sorting.
The Rational Method
Descartes championed the primacy of reason in justifying knowledge. Reason processes ideas from data provided by the senses, but these ideas need explanation and justification that do not come from the senses but from reason. Reason works with deduction. We need to find a first truth and from this, deduce the rest. “I think therefore I am.”
There are two types of ideas:
- Innate (born with them)
- Sensitive (which we infer as perceived by our senses)
Empirical Methods
Hume proposed “empiricism,” which denies we can know reality. There are two types of truth:
- Truths of reason, characteristic of mathematics, based on deduction
- Own truths of empirical science, obtained through experience, the only source of knowledge, based on induction
The Transcendental Method
Kant’s main concern was how science is possible and what its conditions are to overcome the skepticism that Hume’s empiricism led to.
Criticism is based on a critical analysis that reviews rational knowledge. Meliorism is a synthesis of empiricism and rationalism. One must seek the possibility of knowing the subject. Conclusion: experience is necessary, but so are human reason or innate principles and applicable categories, giving universal knowledge.
The Analytical Method of Language
Also known as the philosophy of language (20th century). As language is the form of human expression, it should be the starting point of any reflection. Wittgenstein called the rules of language use language games, and problems occur when they are not met. Mission: clarify and explain the uses of language and its limits and possibilities.
The Phenomenological Method
Phenomenology is a philosophical movement that investigates and describes phenomena through consciousness.
Its creator, Edmund Husserl, aimed to overcome the idealism of Kant’s philosophy and restore the world of things. He wanted to put aside preconceived ideas and prior theories. The phenomenological method makes one stick to the “phenomena.”
The Hermeneutical Method
The science of interpreting. [Hermes was the messenger of the Gods.]
Representatives: Dilthey, Gadamer, Ricoeur, and Heidegger. Hermeneutics was a technique used to interpret and understand ancient texts. It was necessary to know the historical and cultural context in which they had been written. This is a slightly higher current and is deemed a necessary method to understand human phenomena. The correct method of human sciences is the hermeneutic. [Dilthey: “We explain nature; we understand the spirit (World).”]. It also aims to overcome relativism.