Introduction
Revolutionary
philosophy as a new way of acquiring truth requires a clear methodology.
Methodology means a set of well defined rules in doing something, and the
methodology of philosophy means the things that must be done or controlled in
philosophy or the search of truth. We know that philosophy is the study of the
most basic and pure truth, which means the object of philosophy is independent from
sensory experience, for we know that the human form is not the purest form.
For
the very least, we know of one certain rule in philosophy, that is the scope of
understanding covered. In that matter, philosophy only covers the realm of
ideas, making it idealistic. As the pure truth is unbound to anything, for it
is the truth that binds all things. Philosophy also studies only the essence,
and there must be one philosophical theory that ties all other theories into
one complete philosophical theory. However, we will require a more complete
methodology if we wish this to succeed.
Pure Philosophy
Pure
philosophy refers to the most basic form of philosophy, that is the formulation
of pure reality in complete and whole form. For philosophy can be used for
other theoretical problems, such as integration, interpretation, and
evaluation. But for this part pure philosophy shall be discussed first. We know
that pure philosophy generally analyzes idealist problems and not empirical.
This is because of the fact that the most important laws of this world are laws
that in their purest forms, are idealistic. Materialism is merely an expression
or extension of that pure form.
Pure
philosophy is also invariant in its theory, in the sense that it only has one
logical flow that is true in philosophy. The main reason is that in philosophy
there must exist a standard of truth. In classical and contemporary philosophy,
the cause of divide is the lack of a standard of truth or methodology that can
unite all philosophy into one coherent idea. As such, we can also formulate
that in pure philosophy there must exist a criterion of truth. This criterion
is something that can determine the truth value of an idea or thing. For
example in empiricism, the criterion is the human sensory experience, and what
of the criterion in philosophy?
In
philosophy, the criterion of truth is indeed simple, that is reality itself. On
the contrary, a lack of knowledge on reality inhibits us from doing that and
thus we are relegated to a lower standard that is the law of contradiction.
That what is true can not contradict reality and will not lead to contradiction
if true. In addition, since philosophy discusses the idealistic, then what it
means by reality is the truth of reality or the idea of reality. This right
idea is our method of determining truth in philosophy.
And
how do we develop this first idea into a clear and true philosophical
conception? The method we use is the logical deductive method, which is merely the
human expression towards a basic natural law. Deduction does not produce
anything new, instead it exposes according to reality and elaborate beyond what
can be seen. Deduction also guarantees the truth of all conclusion if the
premises are true. Induction and abduction are not used as we do not dwell with
the empirical.
In
pure philosophy, a method of absolute skepticism shall be used, in the sense of
questioning and doubting all things until it is unquestionable and undoubtable.
What is certainly true can not be doubted, as if it can then it is uncertain
and a possibility of falsity arises. A hypothesis or assumption may be made,
with the condition that it is tested and argued according to the pure truth and
integrated with the truth. As from the pure truth we must take some assumptions
and integrations with the material world to develop pure philosophy, or it will
die.
As
such it can be concluded that in pure philosophy reality is still used as the
methodological guide. That all ideas of philosophy is produced according to the
purest reality. This is expressed through absolute skepticism, so we only see
reality and have no biases, through idealism to be independent of materialism
and through deduction to arrive in the right conclusion. When our task of pure
philosophy is done, the next step is the unity of all knowledge in the name of
philosophy or integral philosophy.
Integral Philosophy
The
goal of philosophy is to create an understanding of reality that is complete,
whole, and pure. As such a unity between the idealistic philosophies and the
empirical sciences of matter is required. The methods are not far different
from pure philosophy, with the addition of interpretation. Empirical knowledge
we have today may look separate and far from pure philosophy, but in truth they
are expressions of the same thing, that is reality.
Thus
what must be done is the connection of empiricism and philosophy, between basic
ideas and the more complex empirical knowledge. And through that we can express
all things in the terms of pure philosophy. Integration itself will be useful
at times to develop pure philosophy itself, though in reference to empirical
observations and not the empirical knowledge. The main goal is indeed to
restore science and knowledge that tends to be separated and chaotic, such that
the connection of all things can be seen.
With
the achievement of integration and unity in the name of philosophy we can form
a unified understanding of reality that is truely complete and connected. So
that we know what must be done to reach a particular form. Though it must be
understood that integral philosophy is the understanding of tendencies and laws,
which are idealistic. On the other hand, the results of such laws are not
covered by integral philosophy which are instead covered by interpretive
philosophy.
Interpretive Philosophy
In
a glance, interpretive philosophy may seem similar to integral philosophy,
however as said integral philosophy merely analyzes the complete laws of
reality. In the sense that it analyzes the constants and certainties of this
world for all conditions, while interpretive philosophy interprets reality in
the perspective of pure philosophy as well as a continual context, in
concordance to what happened. For example in an event, then interpretive
philosophy analyzes such event in detail and explains in terms of pure philosophy.
It
is difficult to differentiate integration and interpretation, for both covers
the same object that is the material world. The difference is the focus of
analysis, while integration focuses on uniting knowledge, interpretation
focuses on awareness or analysis of the true form of an event or condition. In
other words, the right interpretation and view of an event, to know the meaning
from such event. As a result, interpretive philosophy can be used to analyze
historical texts and even literature.
An
illustration that may help differentiate both is an analysis of World War 2.
Integral philosophy will discuss the war from the material aspect, such as the
loss of life, the destruction of civilizations, the ethics involved and so on. Intepretive
philosophy on the other hand looks deeper into the pure conflicts and the
meaning behind it. In theory it is often ambiguous, but in practice it is often
made clearer.
Evaluative Philosophy
Evaluative
or critical philosophy is the function and branch of philosophy which
criticizes and corrects ideas or conditions that are not aligned with what
should be. Critical philosophy is most useful in the contemporary ages as a
revolutionary philosophy. Through pure philosophy we can evaluate elements of
reality that are true or false in the current time, and evaluate ideas or
concepts which are right or wrong according to pure philosophy.
Evaluative
philosophy itself has a unique methodology in the evaluation or criticism or
misleading concepts. This method is actually varied, but the most effective is
to analyze the philosophical basis. Say a religion can be judged true or false
as a whole through analyzing what becomes their basis of faith. Of course, as
revolutionary philosophers we must remember that there are still values within
a concept that may be misleading. As a consequence a problem must be understood
wholly and evaluated as such as well. For that reason interpretive philosophy
will be very useful in evaluative philosophy.
Unity of Philosophy
Truly
this is merely one perspective on the wide methodology of philosophy. In the
end all functions, branches, and methodologies of philosophy is still one in
nature and inseparable. Through the whole and maximum utilization of philosophy
we can find the whole and complete truth. The knowledge of methodology itself
is still imperfect as the philosophy itself is undeveloped and unexplored. As
such, the next thing that we must do is perfectly clear, that is to begin our
philosophical journey, for a better world. God Bless.
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