Method of Philosophy

The method of philosophy is rational reflection. Philosophy starts with the experience of facts, events, or phenomena of matter, life and mind. In other words, philosophy employs not only data of sense but also data of consciousness. We can call this a generalised empirical method. (If natural and physical sciences use an empirical method consisting only of data of sense, philosophy uses a generalised empirical method that includes not just data of sense but also data of consciousness.) Philosophical method is not divorced from the world of our common experience, and so its method is empirical. Experience leads to a formulation of hypothesis, and a critical reflection and verification on it to give a satisfactory philosophical judgment. Here, verification does not mean an experiential verification by experiment or observation (as in the natural sciences). Philosophical verification should be consistent with the facts of experience; it must be able to harmonize the judgments of facts with judgments of values.

But what is a method? A method is a normative pattern of recurrent and related operations yielding cumulative and progressive results. It is not a recipe like for a cake or for making biriyani – yielding the same results again and again. Method is not a set of rules to be blindly followed. It is a framework for collaborative creativity.