METHODS OF PHILOSOPHY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Having known the branches of philosophy, we should now look at various methods of philosophizing. Every science has its method that is to say that every science is characterized by a particular manner in which it approaches the object of its study. Philosophy is not left out in
this common characteristic. We shall see that first of all the tool of philosophy is human reason in its unaided state. With his reason a philosopher speculates and analyses the reality as presented to him. He also establishes certain criteria by which he draws his conclusions. Sometimes too he relies on the experience of the past in order to shape his propositions.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

1. state the ways and manner in which philosophy operates 
2. demonstrate that the last court of appeal for philosophy is unaided human reason. You will see that philosophy is speculative, analytic and prescriptive in character 
3.  identify the speculative, analytic and prescriptive character of philosophy. 

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Natural Reason

A philosopher uses reason to analyse reality as presented to him. A desire to know can be for various reasons or motives. In philosophy the desire to know is the desire to understand, a desire to find the causes of things so as to render the world intelligible. Do you remember our definition of philosophy? We defined philosophy as “a science of things by their first causes to the extent that it is attainable by the natural light of reason.”

This sets the tone for this enquiry. Philosophy seeks the first causes of things as far as they can be established rationally by unaided human reason. In other words, the last court of appeal for philosophy is objective evidence and logical reasoning and not Divine revelation. It must be said that even though philosophy arrives at God and his attributes as objects of its study, yet it is still a human science and the knowledge of God is only insofar as it is humanly possible. Philosophy does not venture into the inner life of God, for example the Trinity, and Incarnation are beyond the reach of philosophy. However, philosophy knows that God exists; it establishes his attributes and recognizes his actions in human history.

In its search, philosophy relies solely on common sense and human experience. However, it must be said that philosophy does not rely solely on experience that are accessible to the senses and to the laboratory investigations. Rather philosophy derives its primary notions from the experience of human kind. It is from the primary sensible data that the search for ultimate principles begins. These consist of the ordinary experiences that everyone has, such as the experience of moving or remaining at rest, the experience of growing up, seeing, feeling, thinking and loving. These are common experiences that people in all places and ages have, and on which they build their primary philosophical notions. This however, is different from experimental sciences whose laws are based on the investigations of the movable, observable, the measurable and whose experience is available to the investigator through a painstaking search. On the other hand, philosophy does not need this painstaking investigation or experimentation to arrive at any philosophical reflection. The fact that the philosophy needs does


not require special experiences. The facts are readily available to him because they consist of his own day-to-day experiences.
Since philosophy depends on common experience not on special experiences, philosophy is an autonomous science. It may use facts from other sciences to illustrate its principles but its conclusions and principles are not necessarily affected by scientific discoveries nor are they invalidated by these discoveries. This is not to say that philosophical conclusions are immutable and infallible, it does mean that changes in philosophical conclusions are the results of the movements in philosophical enquiry itself. Philosophical enquiry does not require the gathering of data as it is in other sciences. The philosophical data present themselves in the common experience. Again philosophical conclusions do not require experimentation to determine their validity. The validity of philosophical conclusions is determined by the degree to which they are in agreement with the common experience.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

1.  What is the last court of appeal for philosophy? 
2. What does philosophy relies on? 

3.2 Speculative Method

Whatever knowledge we gain in this life, it is either practical or speculative/theoretical, depending on whether it is sought for useful ends or sought simply for its own sake. However, it is important to note that it is one and the same intellect in man that is both speculative and practical depending on the directive. Philosophy is essentially speculative in nature and method because its objective is to know or understand. But philosophy is not a mere speculation - guess work, or unscientific forecast. It is speculative in a more profound sense. The word speculative comes from the Latin word speculari meaning to spy out, to investigate, uncover, watch or observe. And the word theoretical is derived from the Greek word theorein which means to look at, to view or to contemplate. It is in the senses of these words (speculative and theoretical) that Pythagoras compared all men to those who attend the Olympic Games. He placed the buyers and the sellers in the lowest class. He put the competitors in the second class while the spectators occupied the highest class. By this he indicated that philosophical or contemplative life enjoys the greatest dignity.  Therefore, to philosophize means to look at reality, to observe, to investigate and to uncover reality. This exercise is not directed to or by any specific practical purpose or consideration. It is not to change or model reality. It is not to seek advantage or to manipulate reality for any


personal or communal use. It is a method of seeking for knowledge specifically for the sake of knowledge. In philosophy, the intellect does not measure reality but reality measures the intellect. Truth measures the mind. It is knowledge on the highest level of enquiry. Philosophy is not ordered for action. This, probably seems vague, classical and academic, it seems to have no relevance to the mind and makes no appeals to the contemporary world which is saturated with the passion for practical knowledge. The world is interested in “how -to -fix -it” type of knowledge. Thus the very word contemplation or contemplative knowledge is regarded as otiose (functionless) serving no practical purpose. Hence the study of philosophy (for many) is a waste of time, it is a burden. Its method is not even attractive and inviting. Philosophy is different from the modern sciences, like medicine, and engineering. These methodically have some action or operation to be carried out
- medicine is concerned with health and healing the sick, while engineering is about building and construction. This is not so with philosophy. Though philosophy is a science but it is not science in the restricted, limited or narrow sense of experimentation. Philosophy is a science in the original sense of the word, that is, a certain and evident knowledge of things as known through their principles and causes, and as acquired by the use of demonstrations. Demonstration here is not the
same thing as experimentation.

3.3 Analytic Method

In this method, the philosopher’s main occupation is to clarify the meaning of concepts, particularly in the context in which they are used. The point here is that words or concepts have different meanings and these meanings also vary depending on the context in which they are used. Sometimes we hear of questions such as: what exactly do you mean? or How do you mean? Questions of this nature are not far from the lips of the philosopher. It is the task of philosophy to analyse and examine words and concepts closely in order to determine their meanings in their proper contexts. Philosophy in its analytic method cannot but expose or bring out inconsistencies in a system of thought. This is one other reason why most people do not enjoy the company of philosophers. The analytic method of philosophy involves detailed examination of language as a way of understanding problems which confront man. The philosophical analyst believes that at the root of several human experiences that sometimes escalate to unimaginable proportion, there is a grave misunderstanding of the contents of such experiences. The assumptions and the conclusions we make, for instance, substitution of facts for value or vice versa, sometimes complicate matters. In consequence, no solutions of such problems are conceivable without the proper clarification of the concepts involved. It


should be clear that although these clarifications do not always, as a matter of fact, solve problems; at least they disentangle the complications. One may ask: what do concepts such as freedom, right, belief, authority, bad, and good, mean? In the analytic approach of philosophy, these may have several different meanings but what is even more crucial is that we must allow the mind to be free and lay bare their meaning in particular usages, if we are to understand what is being said.
On the strength of this, the philosophical analyst uses the tools of logic to analyse statements or arguments in order to ascertain the validity of one’s philosophy. Broadly speaking, there are two aspect of linguistic analysis in philosophy and these include:

1.  Analysis of particular words or concepts in their own right; and 
2.  An enquiry into relations among words or simply the context in which they are used in statements or arguments. 

3.4 Prescriptive Method

There is yet another method of philosophy known as prescriptive method or approach. While the analytic approach is concerned with the analysis of words, concepts and issues, the prescriptive method of philosophizing goes beyond this. After having a clear idea of the issue at
hand, prescriptive method attempt to arrive at criteria or conditions which will guide our judgment of concepts and issues to establish criteria for evaluating them. As you may have known, prescription is a law or a norm which requires that something be done or not done, done in this way and not that way. It tends to compel or force behaviour. According to Kneller (1964, p.2) “prescriptive philosophy seeks to establish standards for accessing values, judging conduct and appraising art.” It should be noted here that like in speculative method of philosophizing, prescriptive method is not an arbitrary affair. On the contrary, it involves “systematically, imaginatively constructing general standards or norms based on our synthesis of facts and beliefs which we feel may be of future assistance in deciding behaviour” (Marler, 1975, p.7).
Prescriptive method of philosophizing often serves as hypothesis or guides on how to act in given situations and expressing it conclusions in terms such as ought, should, obligation and duty. Some ethical and religious philosophers employ prescriptive method in their philosophy.

3.5 Historical Method

Historical method is another approach in the study of philosophy. Generally, historians of philosophy adopt this method. It involves tracing the development of philosophy over a period of time. It can also be referred to as the “Great Minds” approach. In examining concepts, for example, using the historical method, one refers to what has been said about the concept in the past and its developments. We must add that philosophy by its very nature is not cumulative, and consequently, historical method is not very popular. Philosophy is an independent discipline. It depends and relies on an individual to reflect on reality and to speculate about it. Reality is always fresh and new to the wondering mind and so each person is differently mystified by reality.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

1. Why is the historical method of philosophizing not popular? 
2.  Who employ prescriptive method most? 

4.0 CONCLUSION

The various methods of philosophizing outlined above should not confuse the student of philosophy to begin to wonder what method am I to use in philosophizing. A philosopher uses all the methods at different time as he reflects on reality. He speculates, he questions, analyses his questions and tries to find possible answers.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this lecture we have seen the various methods of philosophy. We started by saying that the philosopher relies on his natural reason in reflecting on the experiences of life. He speculates about them, he analyses them he sets norm that may help him based on what has gone in the past. Let 

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

 What do you understand by the statement: Philosophy is a speculative science?
. Describe the prescriptive method of philosophizing.