Before we shall get into the explication of the historical development of the philosophical method or the methods in philosophy, we would like to discuss Aristotle and his method as logic first. For logic was considered for a long time as the philosophical method even until Immanuel Kant. It is necessary to pay a special attention to logic as the philosophical methods.


§ 2-1-4. Methods in Philosophy and the Objective of Philosophical Inquiry
‹an Overview of the Problem Domains Anticipating our Inquiry‹

According to the preceding etymological investigation of the nature of method, the method is "the activity to pursue a certain plan or goal in accordance with the controlled procedure.

We also understand that philosophy is questioning search, the pursuit of knowledge, for its own sake. The pursuit in philosophy neither is to serve theology, nor to control the universe in the case of the natural sciences.

To be sure, there are many scientists who "believe" that in the so-called pure sciences they are pursuing the knowledge for its own sake, while like in medicine, engineering, and even the Skinnerian behavioral psychology, or biology, etc., the knowledge to be pursued is to be achieved for the sake of something else, i.e, a specific purpose and the researchers are well aware of this instrumentality of knowledge. Many physicists believed and still believe that they pursue knowledge for its own sake and not to invent the hydrogen bomb or the neutron bomb, that is, for something else. This attitude is philosophical, but what they come up with as the consequences of their research is always useful for something else.

Nevertheless, the science which is not the sense of epistémé or scientia, but what we at the end of the 20th century consider as a science, has the two most fundamental tasks in its research. The one is 1) to explain a certain phenomenon by means of the theoretical hypothesis (you may call it a law of nature once it is enough confirmed) and the second task is 2) to predict a future event or phenomenon. Should they fail to fulfill these most basic functions, unless the science is too young to accomplish the second goal (e.g. seismology and its failure of predicting a future earthquake), it cannot be considered an established science at all. However, this basic conditions necessarily makes research or the pursuit of knowledge as a science having the usefulness or instrumentality of its knowledge, thus excludes itself from the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. Thus, the aim, the goal, of its method is always determined by the practical usefulness.

On the other hand, in the philosophical investigation, the method which functions successfully in its search for knowledge does not serve any other interests or uses but for its own sake. The philosophical inquiry is and has been and will be pursued for the joy of discovering truth and true knowledge for its own sake.

The immediate implication from this is obvious. Philosophical inquiry is not useful, nor practical, even not meaningful to our living at all. In this sense, the philosopher in the genuine sense is non professional, because of the following two senses: 1) it is because the philosopher and the philosophical knowledge are absolutely no use for our practical, pragmatic life: 2) the philosopher and the philosophical knowledge cannot have any professional training (in order to earn one's living by doing so).

However, this does not mean that the philosophical inquiry has no end or goal, nor even a plan. To be sure that the research and its consequence are neither useful anything else or practical at all.

Neither the knowledge which is to be pursued should be "objective!" It is beyond such a distinction between the objective and the subjective, as Kierkegaard correctly pointed out about the question of our own existence as the reality.

And yet, as long as the method in philosophy is a "activities" to attain a certain knowledge as its objective via certain "procedure," we must be rather explicitly aware not only of the"controlled procedure," but also of the "plan," "objective," or "end." This "objective" or "goal" is, as pointed out before, should be known to us even if it is obscure in terms of our cognition of the thing experience.

As we saw earlier, thus, often lead by the value which such an end or a plan possesses, we are only aware of the general direction. Let us follow the phenomenological observation a little further here. The start of philosophical investigation was the explicit awareness that we do not possess wisdom or knowledge itself. In order to have an insight into this, it is absolutely necessary that we are to be liberated from the preconceived ideas, bias, assumptions, presuppositions... In order to liberate ourselves, we are to neutralize those preconceived ideas, bias, assumptions, presuppositions such that they have no power on my way of seeing reality and getting ourselves in our existential involvement. As we saw also earlier, two methods in general available to us. The one of the Thales' wonder, and the other, Descartes universal doubt.

Due to this beginning of philosophical inquiry, the phenomenological epoché (the bracketing the preconceived ideas, bias, assumptions, presuppositions) neutralizes our dogmatic beliefs, as Husserl said. This may be characterized as a return to Pythagoras' "audience" as the philosophical attitude during the Olympic Games. In this sense, the philosopher is not in the stream, not in the flow of consciousness, but an observer standing outside of such a stream. This unconcerned, uninterested observer's attitude seems to work as long as our endeavoring to see, experience and know reality as it discloses itself as it actually is static in two senses: In the sense a) reality itself is unchanging, static. In the other sense, not reality, but our attitude itself is static in tune with the way in which reality reveals itself as it actually is.

Is this sufficient for a philosopher today to have such an static attitude? My reply is: Categorically, No! Why? We should not forget that Karl Marx once said:

The Philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways; the point is to change it!

In approaching to reality as it reveals itself as it actually is, the philosopher today is no longer an uninterested audience to the static reality, but h/she is expected and does commit himself/herself to the search for reality itself as it reveals itself. Kierkegaard was right, when he said, the objective truth loses its total significance, but the problem is our urgent, subjective truth of our own existence.

§ 2-2. The Methods in the Classic Philosophy in the Far East

How was the situation of the method in philosophy in the Far East? In order to make our exploration in this chapter rather concise, we will limit our discussion only to I Ching, Lao Tzu and Confucius. We will also not include here the Buddhist's approach to the philosophical methods. We shall make more detailed elucidations on Methods in Philosophy in Far East between the investigation into the historical methods in philosophy and the methods of the 2oth century.

§ 2-2-1. I Ching

One of the oldest books in Chinese and the only book which survived the Book Burning of Chin Dynasty was I Ching. It was supposed to have authored by Duke of Chou (in Chou Dynasty) around 10th century B.C. It had been used as the book of division for the emperor and the feudal lords.

"I" is understood as Change or "Easy." When understood Change, I Ching is the book of change, which ontologically understands that reality is indeed in constant change. This Change does not only refer to the environment, the society, and the situation, but also the human-being itself and the outcome of an action by an explicit decision-making. I Ching attempts to answer to have us who consult with it understand the current and the future situation, should we choose to act thus. In this sense, the book is indeed the Book of Morality as well. For, unlike the other methods of divination, which view reality as fatalistic (deterministic, although not in the sense of the mechanical causal determinism), I Ching through the 50 yellow stalks reveals the possible outcome of the situation and then asks the person at issue what you should do.

And it will allow us to avoid a certain outcome (when it is "misfortune") or to willfully choose the consequence of the same. In the other sense it is also the Book of Moral that the revelation, when it is negative, it will encourage us to be not crushed, as the situation will change and when it is positive, it will warn us that such a positive outcome may not last long, as everything is in change. This method here may be understood as the means for revelation or the revelation of reality itself through the 50 stalks. Tramp or tarot card as the method of prophecy or prediction, for example, simply foretells what is going to happen and such an outcome is inevitable and beyond the human control. This resembles to the prediction of a certain natural scientific theory. On the contrary, I Ching reveals and sees the situation from the purely human moral point of view as the decision maker among the moral choices

Thus, it may well characterized that I Ching as the method of philosophy tries to see, evidences and deliberates together with the existing human person in his subjective, moral decision. This is the Book of Praxis and not a mere that of Divination at all.

Behind this philosophical attitude, there exists the total harmony of the human existence with the nature and the universe. The human-being as being conceived tires not to control nature, not to confront oneself to it, but the human-being by nature flows with the flows and changes of the universe. This naturalism which was not known to the West (even though, among the Western philosophers, Leibniz was the earliest philosopher who read Chu-shi's writing in German translation and apparently was influenced by it according to Professor Cho) must be understood in the totally different sense from that of the West. In the West, naturalism refers to the philosophical attitude or doctrine, which attempts to reduce to and explain by the process of nature or nature itself every phenomenon which may seemingly not natural. Therefore, it is rather looked down as one of the simplistic reductionism in metaphysics.

The naturalism in the East or the metaphysical understanding of the universe in the Far East is to emphasize and evidence the unity and integration of the human existence into the process of nature and the universe itself. Their harmonious relationship is not only the value, but also is considered the arcual reality.

§ 2-2-2. The Way as "Tao" according to Lao Tzu

The legend tells us that Lao Tzu was contemporary to Confucius and when he departed from one of the border passes, the chief guard noticed that it was Lao Tzu. He asked Lao Tzu to write down this basic thought. So he did it in two thousand words. Recent philological studies are more inclined to suggest that Tao Te Ching is written perhaps rather in the 4th or the 3rd century B.C. (later than Confucius) and is maybe not written by one author, but from many different origins including certain proverbs which were very likely prevalent around the time.

Contrary to this contention by the Chinese philologists, we would like to contend that Tao Te Ching was written by a single person, called Lao Tzu and he may be contemporary to Confucius rather than in a later period.

Tao Te Ching has a clear stylistic unity (in terms of the use of Chinese characters) and the only one use of the proper noun (the reference to Yang Tze River). A little later than when Tao Te Ching was written, the China was unified and many different dialects (particularly of different Chinese characters for the same sound) became to be known to each other. In consequence, homonyms (many different characters for the same sound) were given a certain ordering such that differentiation of meanings took place around the 3rd century. A good example of the situation with this complexity may be found for example in Chuang Tzu. Thus, the style of Lao Tzu differs so totally from Chuang Tzu in terms of the use of exceedingly difficult and complicated Chinese characters used by Chuang Tzu. Needless to emphasize, there is also a very clear unity of philosophical thought in Tao Te Ching.

At any rate, from our philosophical point of view, this question of dates is not so essential in terms of exploring the meaning of the way, whether we choose Confucius or Lao Tzu. For the sake of convenience, we start with Lao Tzu, as the notion of Tao is somewhat more "dominant" than Confucius'. This does not mean that Lao Tzu clearly present the definition of Tao. On the contrary, he discloses that Tao is beyond the definition, because it might define everything else, but itself, as follows:

It is astonishing that Lao Tzu tells us at the very beginning of his work that the word, "Tao," The Way, is chosen to refer to this ultimate reality itself and the principle of all ten thousand entities of reality for their being (for them to exist), he clearly points out that the language is inappropriate to deal with his metaphysical inquiry and question, because language has been devised and extensively used for articulating and distinguishing one another and showing preference of one to the other.

The Tao that is to be referred to is not what we call Tao in the language of the mundane everydayness. What is to be named can not be described by the mundane, everyday name based on the dualistic thinking.

Then, Lao Tzu declares form the beginning in Chapter 1, "Naming (the use of language) is the source of distinctions, namely, those of the so-called Ten Thousand Things."

Without (=bracketing and neutralizing) all our desires is the only way in which this (unnameable and undistinguishable) Tao, The Way, is immediately intuited. (Needless to say, this does not necessarily mean that we always live in accordance with the Way of Tao).

With our desires, Tao's appearances are only known, although these two possess merely different expressions or the ways (Tao and appearances), they are primarily one and the same.

This Way (and its way of existence) is reality itself and when described (not necessarily by the mundane, conventional use of language) it is the primordial truth, of all truths, which serves as the beginning of many other truths.

Thus, according to Lao Tzu, The Way, is more than the philosophical approach as a mans to the authentic way of existence. Equivocally (this is not in the negative sense of ambiguity but it is positive), rather this Way itself is the actual genuine reality, cleansed and purified from our mundane, egoistic, hedonistic desires and greed and power-hungriness of everydayness, and uncovered from any prejudices, preconceived ideas and biases.

§ 2-2-3.Confucius' Tao as the Moral Way

Confucius was born in the feudal State of Lu in 552/551 B.C. as an illegitimate son of the famous, courageous general, who originally came from the "Shih" class and was promoted to the "Tai'fu" class due to his valor. He died in 479 B.C. in the midst of his journey.

We may wonder why Confucius data are well transmitted to today, while Lao Tzu was totally opposite to Confucius. Confucius was concerned about establishing your name of the ancestry by accomplishing moral righteousness. On the other, Lao Tzu advises us to be inconspicuous, undistinguished, in obscurity but lives quietly in accordance with nature. No wonder Lao Tzu was forgotten, while Confucius was well remembered.

Besides, during Han Dynasty, the teachings of Confucius was adopted as the national principles. Confucius' teachings have been for this and other reasons the most popular ones in China.

The most important book by Confucius is called Lin Yüh (Analects). This is a collection of Confucius' dialogues with his immediate students and others. One of the most important contributions of Confucius may be found that, in response to his student or an acquaintance asks, "What is it?", the real truths are often found iin the most immediate, concrete example of the everyday way of life.

The central, the most important theme or concept of Confucius' Analects is that of "Jen." Like many of the basic concepts in Chinese thought, this concept of ":Jen" is also ambiguous. In Confucius's Analects, the "Jen" appear 105 times, but there we also get no explicit definition, as touched above as the response to the question, "What is Jen?" Every context in which such a concept as "Jen" occurs is a rather concrete situation. Let us take the example the 3 in Book IV:

The Master said, "Only"Jen" knows how to genuinely love people and how to genuinely abhor (wicked) people."

Then what does Confucius mean by "Jen?" "Jen" is, according to Confucius, the educational ideal (this is what the Ancient Greek called "'i aideia"‹hé paideia‹ or the Ancient Romans translated it into "humanitas" which was revived in Renaissance as its educational ideal) of the human-being (with the morality as the highest value). In other words, it signified what ought to be most morally excellent as the human-being according to Confucius. It is the standard of morality for the human-being, by which any value, whether it is high or low, positive or negative, is to be clearly and properly identified.

In fact, in opposition to the Ming, the lower class of the then society in China, altogether the other higher three classes, i.e, Shih, Tai'fu and Shin, are called "Jen." In this sense, the person of Jen may be the one who actualized the highest ideal of being human according to one's own class (whether it is Shin, Tai'fu or Shih). And it is not an abstract predicate or concept, but it is a concrete person who does actualize "what ought to be most morally excellent as a human being." The Ancient use of the Chinese character which sounds an abstract concept is always meant a concrete, particular example, as pointed before in relation to the Japanese Confucian scholar, Jinsai Ito.

Therefore, we cannot accuse Confucius of failing in providing us with the appropriate definition, as Socrates attempted not only asked the question, "ti estin"‹ti estin‹ (what is it?), but endeavors by himself and his discussans to find the definition.. For, on the contrary, it was the Chinese philosophical method or way to call our attention to the concrete, rather everyday situation to have the person of dialogue understand what it means and what it is by such a prima facie abstract concept as "Jen" "Filial Piety," "Té" etc. The situation is the same with Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, or Mo-tzu.

Contrary to the Western method or approach to reality, the Eastern philosophers take the totally different Way or philosophical method to reality. The process of the procedure to approach reality seems to be exactly the opposite. Namely, take for example, the teacher does not provide his/her disciple with the abstract definition. On the contrary, the quasi abstract concept is illustrated by a concrete, particular situation. This is one of the difficulties that those who are trained in the Western way or method to understand the Chinese classical philosophy. The teacher does not help the student step by step what is to be learned, nor "explanation." When we were children, we sat properly in front of our father and he aloud reads one phrase after another from Confucius' Analects. We recites it one by one, and memorized it. Of course, being 7-10 years old, we did not understand what it meant. And many hear passed and often they are forgotten. However, suddenly, our eye are opened to those phrases and we understand them! This is the method of the East.

§ 2-2-4. Method of the Philosophy in "Manual" Culture versus Method of Philosophy in the "Menkyo Kaiden" Culture

This may be characterized as the basic method or way to approach reality. Let me explain a little more by means of a couple of examples: The certificate, called, "Menkyo Kaiden," is given to the student, when this student completely masters the art and skill of e.g., sword (Kendo). In fact, the teacher does not teach the student by showing how to do certain form or figure, but the student is expected to learn by himself by carefully and constantly observing the teacher day and night. The student must obtain the art and skill as if the student would steal them for the teacher. Once the teacher recognize that the student attained the high standard of artistry, then the teacher will give the student the so-called :"Menkyo Kaiden." This means literally The "Approval and Admission that all the arts and skills, the secret of truth have been transferred."

The way or method of the Western philosophy since the Ancient Greek philosophy was to understand the world or the universe, i.e., reality, by means of the universal, "abstract" fundamental notions such as one-many, being-non-being, form-matter, means-end, potency actuality, cause-effect, necessity-contingency, time-space, being (fact)-ought (value), appearance reality, sense-reason, opinion-knowledge, (instinctive) drive-will, etc. In fact, in the Western method (particularly in communication), one is left to imagine and present a concrete example in one's mind by oneself in order to understand those "abstract" concepts. This is what I would like to call the Manual-Approach. What is the manual approach?

The manual is the step by step instruction for controlled procedure to use a set of rules or a certain knowledge, a skill or a tool. The manual does not refer to a concrete situation, but a very universal and universally applicable. In other words, once the manual is established, any one can go through the manual step by step to master a certain knowledge, skill or the way of manipulating a tool or a machine, unless one is intellectually deficient.

The purpose of the manual is the step-by-step instruction for a certain controlled procedure, which may be learned and used by any one and under any circumstance, that is in principle a universal method of instruction. Those who will utilize the so-called manual method do not need to have already mastered a certain standard of special knowledge, or skill or art in order to apply it. In other words, a total beginner or an amateur may study the manual and will be able to learn it.

For the student in the East, no manual is available. Whether it is a sword maker, a warrior, a Zen monk, or a ceramicist, the method of transferring the truth, the highest arts and the depth of understanding is exactly the same, the method of "Menkyo Kaiden." The only way in which the secret is revealed to the student is a concrete, particular situation in which it is de facto used. Thus, it is by now obvious that a wrong approach which attempted during Sung Dynasty by Chu-shi to re-organize the Confucian thought into a abstract, coherent metaphysical system.

An opportunity might be given to discuss the Method of "Menkyo Kaiden" later within a different context in this lectures again. Before we leave the Way of the Far East, we would like to look at Confucius' understanding of the Way in more details.

§ 2-2-5. Confucius's Tao Again.

We inquired above Confucius' method in philosophy particularly in teaching and learning between the teacher and the student. Confucius' method of teaching is typical and representative of the method in the Eas. Let us summarize what is so unique about Confucius' method of communication and its essential characteristics which is widely practiced in Far East:

It was not the teacher who positively tries to help the student learning. In almost everyday way of the normal life, the teacher presents himself/herself to the student. It was the student himself/herself with his/her positive devotion to learn that enables for learning to take place. The student, if she/he would really want to learn from the teacher, the student worked hard to gain something from the teacher. In short, the transfer of what is to be learned occurs through the student's positive involvement in and devotion to learning itself.

It is often even expected of the student to steal such knowledge, art, or skill. Ii may be said that it was the only way and method that the student acquired knowledge or skill. The student was expected constantly to observe every motion and every action of his/her teacher, so she/he can de facto absolve everything from the teacher. Learning became thus the student's total devotion to that of the teacher's life.

Besides this general feature of the method in philosophy as the method of Menkyo Kaiden," Confucius' Analects take a special form and method of instruction, as pointed above briefly. Each of those short passages was remembered by his immediate disciple and then by his discipline of the second generation. The words recorded must be very impressive and unforgettable to the editors, as they were carefully held by those who had heard with their whole heart.

They are not the defintions of an abstract concept, nor are they logical inferences. Indeed, there is not even a single inference or a logical justification in the entire Analects. To be sure, there are several situations in which the student asked teacher asked fruther on the same subject. They are not the grounds for soemthing first stated, but illustrations and concrete cases. Thus, the words are to be immediately understood by the students, and not logically inferred at all. In this sense, these statements which the Western civlization will call "aphorisms" the opposite to the system of science Aristotle attempted to establish. The method of comprehending those words is to immediately grasp by once agaiin presenting in one's own mind concrete instances of the issue, so the meaning of the statement is unambiguously and intuitively understood.

This may perhaps correspond, however, to rather recisely what Plato (in the cognition of ideas) and Aristotle (in the cognition of the first principles of science) understood by "'h nohsis"‹hé noésis‹ (immediate comprehension of the higher order). In the West we may have been accustomed too much to view this noésis as the rational intuition. "To noein"‹"to noein"‹ is simply "to see" and "grasp immediately what is given." It is an first hand, immediate, direct straightfoward knowing of what really is.

Besides these methodological conceptions of the Way in the East, Confucious' uses of Way are rather very unique and deeply permeated by his thought on morality and the ideal community with moral perfection. Let us examine how he understands the Way in Analects.

Besides a minor use of the way, which simply meant a road or a street ("...fooling around on the "way""), there are several philosophically significant usages of the Way in Confucius Analects.

1) The Way which the human-being ought to do as the human:
Probably this meaning of the Way may be the most fundamental of all his uses in describing his thought. The Way of humanity or humankind was seen as lost at Confucius time.

2) The Way as Confucius's Morality
When 1) was meant specifically morality, this is the use of his term.

3) The Way which is the Rituals
Confucius often referred to the Ancient Way, that is, the well organized and established rituals of Chou Dynasty, to which Confucius wanted to go back as the means to re-establish the Ideal

4) The Way which is Truth, Teaching and Doctrine
The Truth and the objective of his teaching was meant by the Way and further signified Confucius' tecahing or doctrine itself.

5) The Ideal of Cofucius' philosophy:
The Way is understood as the Ideal Community with Moral Perfection." This was Confucius' highest value of his teaching and his ideal which he and his students pursued to actualize.

6) The Ideal Community with the high morality.
Not the ideal of Confucius' philosophy but the Ideal Community is signifed by the Way.

7) The Way in which the social order is to be established:
Further, it also meant "the social order" itself in the narrower sense than in 6).

As well evidenced from the above articulations of the Way, Confucius' Way is used in many different ways. This ambiguity or equivocation (according to the Wastern way) is evident and apparent to those who heard them and read them by means of the concrete contexts in which they are used.

It is now to go back to Aristotle's logic and Philosophical Inquiry into Method.