Introduction to the methodology

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Introduction to methodology (subtitle: An overview of elementary general scientific methods of thinking ) is one of the main works of the logician and philosopher Albert Menne . It was published in 1980 as the first edition as part of a series published by the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft "Philosophy. Introductions to the subject, method and results of its disciplines".

Content and structure

Based on the subtitle, the book provides a basic introduction to general scientific working methods.

The attempt is made to present methods that are not subject-specific, but rather generally aimed at scientific work, in a coherent overview. They should be made understandable in a precise manner so that the reader can benefit from them after reading them, even without much prior knowledge. The acquisition of a deeper understanding of the topics presented is not to be seen as the intention of the author.

The document is divided accordingly into seven chapters, which cover the following contents in compact form on a total of 122 pages (excluding references and index):

  • introduction
    • Preliminary consideration, teaching and scientific teaching, science as research, logic, meta-sciences, history
  • definition
    • The word definition itself, goals of definition, ways of defining, limits of definability, borderline cases of definitions
  • The difference
    • Scientific relevance of distinction, types of difference, sign or word categories, types of meaning, types of ambiguity, supposition, identity, equality, similarity, different meanings of "true", semantic categories; Being and knowing
  • Classification
    • On the history, word and subject division, the three aspects of division, comparison, order, disposition scheme
  • Heuristic
    • Preliminary remark, the observation, the experiment, formula elements, evidence, documents, exploration, description - explanation
  • Reason
    • Judgment and justification, direct justification, indirect justification, probability, falsification, rejection, verifiability
  • From the course of research
    • Step-by-step approach, question, problem, hypothesis, theory, model, scientific language, intuition

In his explanations of the above-mentioned topics, Albert Menne refers, among others, to Walter Dubislav , Joseph Maria Bocheński and Uuno Saarnio .

As a "special feature", the work has a distinctive numbering of the individual sections, formulas and definitions. This is to make referencing and quoting easier.

literature

  • Menne, Albert: Introduction to the methodology. An overview of elementary general scientific methods of thinking, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1980; 2nd edition 1984, 3rd edition 1992; ISBN 3-534-05251-X
  • Jacobi, Klaus: Review of "Introduction to Methodology", Journal for General Philosophy of Science, Volume 13, Issue 2, 1982

Web links