3. Means and methods of cognition Different sciences, quite understandably, have their own specific methods and means of research. Philosophy, without discarding such specificity, nevertheless concentrates its efforts on the analysis of those methods of cognition that are common

§ 5. INDUCTION AND DEDUCTION AS METHODS OF COGNITION The question of using induction and deduction as methods of knowledge has been discussed throughout the history of philosophy. Induction was most often understood as the movement of knowledge from facts to statements of a general nature, and by

Chapter II. Forms of development of scientific knowledge The formation and development of theory is a complex and lengthy dialectical process that has its own content and its own specific forms. The content of this process is the transition from ignorance to knowledge, from incomplete and inaccurate

Theoretical methods of cognition are what is commonly called “cold reason.” A mind skilled in theoretical research. Why is that? Remember the famous phrase of Sherlock Holmes: “And from here on, please speak in as much detail as possible!” At the stage of this phrase and the subsequent story of Helen Stoner, the famous detective initiates the preliminary stage - sensory (empirical) knowledge.

By the way, this episode gives us the basis for comparing two degrees of knowledge: only primary (empirical) and primary together with secondary (theoretical). Conan Doyle does this through the images of his two main characters.

How does retired military doctor Watson react to the girl’s story? He gets fixated on the emotional stage, having decided in advance that the story of the unfortunate stepdaughter is caused by her unmotivated suspicion of her stepfather.

Two stages of the method of cognition

Helen Holmes listens to her speech in a completely different way. He first perceives by ear verbal information. However, the empirical information obtained in this way is not the final product for him; he needs it as raw material for subsequent intellectual processing.

Using skillfully theoretical methods knowledgeable in processing every bit of information received (none of which escaped his attention), the classic literary character seeks to resolve the mystery of the crime. Moreover, he applies theoretical methods with brilliance, with analytical sophistication that fascinates readers. With their help, internal hidden connections are found and the patterns that resolve the situation are determined.

What is the nature of theoretical methods of cognition

We deliberately turned to a literary example. With his help, we hope our story began not impersonally.

It must be admitted that science is at its best modern level turned into the main driving force progress precisely thanks to its “toolkit” - research methods. All of them, as we have already mentioned, are divided into two large groups: empirical and theoretical. Common feature Both groups have a stated goal - true knowledge. They differ in their approach to knowledge. At the same time, scientists, practitioners empirical methods, are called practitioners, and theoretical ones are called theorists.

Let us also note that often the results of empirical and theoretical studies do not coincide with each other. This is the reason for the existence of two groups of methods.

Empirical (from Greek word“empirios” - observation) are characterized by purposeful, organized perception, defined by the research task and subject area. In them, scientists use optimal forms of recording results.

The theoretical level of cognition is characterized by the processing of empirical information using data formalization techniques and specific information processing techniques.

For a scientist practicing theoretical methods of cognition, the ability to use creatively, as a tool in demand by the optimal method, is of paramount importance.

Empirical and theoretical methods have common generic characteristics:

• fundamental role various forms thinking: concepts, theories, laws;
• for any of the theoretical methods, the source of primary information is empirical knowledge;
• in the future, the obtained data is subject to analytical processing using a special conceptual apparatus and information processing technology provided for them;
• The goal for which theoretical methods of cognition are used is the synthesis of inferences and conclusions, the development of concepts and judgments as a result of which new knowledge is born.

Thus, at the primary stage of the process, the scientist receives sensory information using methods of empirical cognition:

• observation (passive, non-interventional monitoring of phenomena and processes);
• experiment (fixation of the process under artificially specified initial conditions);
• measurements (determining the ratio of the determined parameter to a generally accepted standard);
• comparison (associative perception of one process compared to another).

Theory as a result of knowledge

What kind of feedback coordinates the methods of theoretical and empirical levels of cognition? Feedback when testing the truth of theories. At the theoretical stage, based on the received sensory information, the key problem is formulated. To resolve it, hypotheses are drawn up. The most optimal and well-developed ones develop into theories.

The reliability of a theory is checked by its compliance with objective facts (data of sensory cognition) and scientific facts (reliable knowledge, verified many times before for truth.) For such adequacy, the selection of an optimal theoretical method of cognition is important. It is he who must ensure maximum compliance of the fragment being studied with objective reality and the analytical presentation of its results.

Concepts of method and theory. Their commonalities and differences

Properly chosen methods provide the “moment of truth” in knowledge: the development of a hypothesis into a theory. Having been updated, general scientific methods of theoretical knowledge are filled with the necessary facts precisely in the developed theory of knowledge, becoming its integral part.

If we artificially isolate such a perfectly working method from a ready-made, generally accepted theory, then, having examined it separately, we will find that it has acquired new properties.

On the one hand, it is filled with special knowledge (by incorporating the ideas of the current research), and on the other, it acquires general generic features of relatively homogeneous objects of study. This is precisely what expresses the dialectical relationship between the method and the theory of scientific knowledge.

The commonality of their nature is tested for relevance throughout the entire period of their existence. The first acquires the function of organizational regulation, prescribing to the scientist a formal procedure for manipulation to achieve the goals of the study. Being used by a scientist, methods of the theoretical level of knowledge take the object of study beyond the existing previous theory.

The difference between method and theory is expressed in the fact that they represent different forms of knowledge of scientific knowledge.

If the second expresses the essence, laws of existence, conditions of development, internal connections of the object under study, then the first orients the researcher, dictating to him a “road map of knowledge”: requirements, principles of subject-transforming and cognitive activity.

It can be said in another way: theoretical methods of scientific knowledge are addressed directly to the researcher, appropriately regulating his thought process, directing the process of obtaining new knowledge in the most rational direction.

Their importance in the development of science led to the creation of its separate branch, which describes the theoretical tools of the researcher, called methodology based on epistemological principles (epistemology - the science of knowledge).

List of theoretical methods of cognition

It is well known that the following variants of theoretical methods of cognition include:

• modeling;
• formalization;
• analysis;
• synthesis;
• abstraction;
• induction;
• deduction;
• idealization.

Of course, the qualifications of the scientist are important in the practical effectiveness of each of them. A knowledgeable specialist, having analyzed the main methods of theoretical knowledge, will select the necessary one from their totality. It is he who will play a key role in the effectiveness of cognition itself.

Modeling method example

In March 1945, under the auspices of the Ballistic Laboratory (USAF), the operating principles of the PC were outlined. This was a classic example of scientific knowledge. A group of physicists, reinforced by the famous mathematician John von Neumann, took part in the research. A native of Hungary, he was the principal analyst for this study.

The above-mentioned scientist used the modeling method as a research tool.

Initially, all devices of the future PC - arithmetic-logical, memory, control device, input and output devices - existed verbally, in the form of axioms formulated by Neumann.

The mathematician put the data of empirical physical research into the form mathematical model. Subsequently, the researcher studied it, and not its prototype. Having received the result, Neumann “translated” it into the language of physics. By the way, the thought process demonstrated by the Hungarian made a great impression on the physicists themselves, as evidenced by their reviews.

Note that it would be more accurate to give this method the name “modeling and formalization.” It is not enough to create the model itself; it is equally important to formalize the internal connections of the object through a coding language. After all, this is exactly how a computer model should be interpreted.

Today, such computer modeling, which is carried out using special mathematical programs, is quite common. It is widely used in economics, physics, biology, automotive industry, and radio electronics.

Modern computer modeling

The computer simulation method involves the following steps:

• definition of the modeled object, formalization of the installation for modeling;
• drawing up a plan for computer experiments with the model;
• analysis of the results.

There are simulation and analytical modeling. Modeling and formalization are a universal tool.

The simulation displays the functioning of the system when it sequentially performs a huge number of elementary operations. Analytical modeling describes the nature of an object using differential control systems that have a solution that reflects the ideal state of the object.

In addition to mathematics, they also distinguish:

• conceptual modeling (through symbols, operations between them, and languages, formal or natural);
• physical modeling (object and model - real objects or phenomena);
• structural and functional (graphs, diagrams, tables are used as a model).

Abstraction

The abstraction method helps to understand the essence of the issue being studied and solve very complex problems. It allows you to discard everything unimportant and focus on the fundamental details.

For example, if we turn to kinematics, it becomes obvious that researchers use this particular method. Thus, it was initially identified as primary, rectilinear and uniform movement (with such abstraction it was possible to isolate the basic parameters of movement: time, distance, speed.)

This method always involves some generalization.

By the way, the opposite theoretical method of cognition is called concretization. Using it to study changes in speed, the researchers came up with a definition of acceleration.

Analogy

The analogy method is used to formulate fundamentally new ideas by finding analogues of phenomena or objects (in this case, analogues are both ideal and real objects that have an adequate correspondence to the phenomena or objects being studied.)

An example of the effective use of analogy can be well-known discoveries. Charles Darwin, taking as a basis the evolutionary concept of the struggle for the livelihood of the poor with the rich, created the theory of evolution. Niels Bohr, relying on the planetary structure of the Solar system, substantiated the concept of the orbital structure of the atom. J. Maxwell and F. Huygens created the theory of wave electromagnetic oscillations, using, as an analogue, the theory of wave mechanical oscillations.

The analogy method becomes relevant if the following conditions are met:

• as many essential features as possible should resemble each other;
• a sufficiently large sample of known traits must be truly related to the unknown trait;
• analogy should not be interpreted as identical similarity;
• It is also necessary to consider the fundamental differences between the subject of study and its analogue.

Note that this method is most often and fruitfully used by economists.

Analysis - synthesis

Analysis and synthesis find their application both in scientific research and in ordinary mental activity.

The first is the process of mentally (most often) breaking down the object under study into its components for a more complete study of each of them. However, the analysis stage is followed by a synthesis stage, when the studied components are combined together. In this case, all properties identified during their analysis are taken into account and then their relationships and methods of communication are determined.

The integrated use of analysis and synthesis is characteristic of theoretical knowledge. It was these methods, in their unity and opposition, that the German philosopher Hegel laid as the basis for dialectics, which, in his words, “is the soul of all scientific knowledge.”

Induction and deduction

When the term “methods of analysis” is used, it most often refers to deduction and induction. These are logical methods.

Deduction presupposes a course of reasoning that follows from the general to the particular. It allows us to identify certain consequences from the general content of the hypothesis that can be substantiated empirically. Thus, deduction is characterized by the establishment of a common connection.

Sherlock Holmes, mentioned at the beginning of this article, very clearly substantiated his deductive method in the story “The Land of Crimson Clouds”: “Life is an endless connection of causes and effects. Therefore, we can understand it by examining one link after another.” The famous detective collected as much information as possible, choosing the most significant from many versions.

Continuing to characterize methods of analysis, let us characterize induction. This is the formulation of a general conclusion from a series of particulars (from the particular to the general.) A distinction is made between complete and incomplete induction. Complete induction is characterized by the development of a theory, while incomplete induction is characterized by the development of a hypothesis. The hypothesis, as is known, should be updated by proving it. Only after this does it become a theory. Induction, as a method of analysis, is widely used in philosophy, economics, medicine, and law.

Idealization

Often the theory of scientific knowledge uses ideal concepts that do not exist in reality. Researchers endow non-natural objects with special, limiting properties that are possible only in “limiting” cases. Examples include a straight line, a material point, and an ideal gas. Thus, science distinguishes from the objective world certain objects that are completely amenable to scientific description, devoid of secondary properties.

The idealization method, in particular, was used by Galileo, who noticed that if all external forces acting on a moving object are removed, it will continue to move indefinitely, rectilinearly and uniformly.

Thus, idealization makes it possible in theory to obtain a result that is unattainable in reality.

However, in reality, for this case, the researcher takes into account: the height of the falling object above sea level, the latitude of the point of impact, the impact of wind, air density, etc.

Training of methodological scientists as the most important task of education

Today, the role of universities in training specialists who are creatively proficient in the methods of empirical and theoretical knowledge is becoming obvious. At the same time, as evidenced by the experience of Stanford, Harvard, Yale and Columbia universities, they are assigned a leading role in the development latest technologies. Perhaps this is why their graduates are in demand in knowledge-intensive companies, the share of which has a constant tendency to increase.

An important role in the training of researchers is played by:

• flexibility of the education program;
• the opportunity for individual training for the most talented students capable of becoming promising young scientists.

At the same time, the specialization of people developing human knowledge in the field of IT, engineering, production, and mathematical modeling requires the presence of teachers with up-to-date qualifications.

Conclusion

The examples of theoretical knowledge methods mentioned in the article give a general idea of ​​the creative work of scientists. Their activity boils down to the formation of a scientific representation of the world.

It, in a narrower, special sense, consists in the skillful use of a certain scientific method.
The researcher summarizes empirical verified facts, puts forward and tests scientific hypotheses, and formulates a scientific theory that advances human knowledge from a statement of the known to an awareness of the previously unknown.

Sometimes the ability of scientists to use theoretical scientific methods looks like magic. Even after centuries, no one doubts the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein.

There are two levels of scientific knowledge: empirical and theoretical.
“This difference is based on the dissimilarity, firstly, of the methods (methods) of the cognitive activity, and secondly, the nature of the scientific results achieved”.
Some general scientific methods are used only at the empirical level (observation, experiment, measurement), others - only at the theoretical level (idealization, formalization), and some (for example, modeling) - at both the empirical and theoretical levels.

Empirical level of scientific knowledge characterized by direct exploration of real-life, sensory-perceptible objects. The special role of empirics in science lies in the fact that only at this level of research we deal with the direct interaction of a person with the natural or natural objects being studied. social facilities. Living contemplation (sensory cognition) predominates here; the rational element and its forms (judgments, concepts, etc.) are present here, but have a subordinate significance. Therefore, the object under study is reflected primarily from its external connections and manifestations, accessible to living contemplation and expressing internal relationships. At this level, the process of accumulating information about the objects and phenomena under study is carried out by conducting observations, performing various measurements, and delivering experiments. Here, the primary systematization of the obtained factual data is also carried out in the form of tables, diagrams, graphs, etc. In addition, already at the second level of scientific knowledge - as a consequence of the generalization of scientific facts - it is possible to formulate some empirical patterns.

Theoretical level of scientific knowledge characterized by the predominance of the rational moment - concepts, theories, laws and other forms and “mental operations”. The lack of direct practical interaction with objects determines the peculiarity that an object at a given level of scientific knowledge can only be studied indirectly, in a thought experiment, but not in a real one. However, living contemplation is not eliminated here, but becomes a subordinate (but very important) aspect of the cognitive process.
At this level, the most profound essential aspects, connections, patterns inherent in the objects and phenomena being studied are revealed by processing the data of empirical knowledge. This processing is carried out using systems of abstractions “ higher order” - such as concepts, conclusions, laws, categories, principles, etc. However, at the theoretical level we will not find a fixation or abbreviated summary of empirical data; theoretical thinking cannot be reduced to empirical summation of this material. It turns out that theory does not grow out of empirics, but as if next to it, or rather, above it and in connection with it.”
The theoretical level is a higher level in scientific knowledge. “The theoretical level of knowledge is aimed at the formation of theoretical laws that meet the requirements of possibility and necessity, i.e. operate everywhere and always.” The results of theoretical knowledge are hypotheses, theories, laws.
While distinguishing these two different levels in scientific research, one should not, however, separate them from each other and oppose them. After all, the empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge are interconnected. The empirical level acts as the basis, the foundation of the theoretical. Hypotheses and theories are formed in the process of theoretical understanding of scientific facts and statistical data obtained at the empirical level. In addition, theoretical thinking inevitably relies on sensory-visual images (including diagrams, graphs, etc.), with which the empirical level of research deals.
In turn, the empirical level of scientific knowledge cannot exist without achievements at the theoretical level. Empirical research is usually based on a certain theoretical construct, which determines the direction of this research, determines and justifies the methods used.
According to K. Popper, the belief that we can begin scientific research with “pure observations” without having “something resembling a theory” is absurd. Therefore, some conceptual perspective is absolutely necessary. Naive attempts to do without it can, in his opinion, only lead to self-deception and the uncritical use of some unconscious point of view.
The empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge are interconnected, the boundary between them is conditional and fluid. Empirical research, revealing new data through observations and experiments, stimulates theoretical knowledge (which generalizes and explains them), and poses new, more complex tasks. On the other hand, theoretical knowledge, developing and concretizing its own new content on the basis of empirics, opens up new, broader horizons for empirical knowledge, orients and directs it in the search for new facts, contributes to the improvement of its methods and means, etc.
The third group of methods of scientific knowledge includes methods used only within the framework of research of a specific science or a specific phenomenon. Such methods are called private scientific methods. Each special science (biology, chemistry, geology, etc.) has its own specific research methods.
At the same time, private scientific methods, as a rule, contain various combinations certain general scientific methods of cognition. Particular scientific methods may include observations, measurements, inductive or deductive inferences, etc. The nature of their combination and use depends on the research conditions and the nature of the objects being studied. Thus, specific scientific methods are not divorced from general scientific ones. They are closely related to them and include the specific application of general scientific cognitive techniques for studying a specific area of ​​the objective world. At the same time, particular scientific methods are also connected with the universal, dialectical method, which seems to be refracted through them.

Empirical level of knowledge

The subject of research at the empirical level is the properties, connections, and relationships of an object that are accessible to sensory perception. It is necessary to distinguish empirical objects of science from objects of reality, since the former are certain abstractions that highlight in reality a certain limited set of properties, connections and relationships. A real object has an infinite number of characteristics; it is inexhaustible in its properties, connections, and relationships. This is what determines the epistemological focus of the study at the empirical level - the study of phenomena (phenomena) and superficial connections between them and the dominance of the sensory correlate in the study.

The main task of cognition at the empirical level is to obtain initial empirical information about the object being studied. Most often, such methods of cognition as observation and experiment are used for this.

Knowledge that is formed in the process of empirical research - observation, setting up and conducting experiments, collecting and describing observed phenomena and facts, their empirical systematization and generalization - is expressed in the form of a scientific fact and empirical generalization (law).

An empirical law is the result of an inductive generalization of experiments and represents probabilistic true knowledge. An increase in the number of experiments in itself does not make an empirical dependence reliable knowledge, since an empirical generalization always deals with incomplete experience.

The main cognitive function that scientific knowledge performs at the empirical level is the description of phenomena.

Scientific research is not satisfied with the description of phenomena and empirical generalization; in an effort to reveal the causes and essential connections between phenomena, the researcher moves to the theoretical level of knowledge.

Means and methods of empirical research. Observation and experiment, types of experiment

1. Observation- systematic, purposeful passive study of objects, based mainly on data from the senses. In the course of observation, we gain knowledge not only about the external aspects of the object of knowledge, but also - as the ultimate goal - about its essential properties and relationships.

Observation can be direct or indirect through various instruments and other technical devices. As science develops, it becomes more complex and indirect. Observation captures and records facts, describes the object of study, providing empirical information necessary for posing new problems and putting forward hypotheses.

The main requirements for a scientific description are aimed at ensuring that it is as complete, accurate and objective as possible. The description must give a reliable and adequate picture of the object itself and accurately reflect the phenomena being studied. It is important that the concepts used for description always have a clear and unambiguous meaning. An important point observation is the interpretation of its results - deciphering instrument readings, etc.

2. Experiment is a method of cognition in which phenomena are studied under controlled and controlled conditions. The subject actively intervenes in the research process, influencing the object under study through special tools and instruments, purposefully and permanently changing the object, revealing its new properties. Thanks to this, the researcher is able to isolate the object from the influence of side phenomena that obscure its essence and study the phenomenon in its pure form; systematically change the conditions of the process; repeatedly reproduce the course of the process under strictly fixed and controllable conditions.

The main features of the experiment: a) a more active (than during observation) attitude towards the object of study, up to its change and transformation; b) the ability to control the behavior of an object and check the results; c) repeated reproducibility of the studied object at the request of the researcher; d) the ability to detect properties of phenomena that are not observed in natural conditions.

The types (types) of experiments are very diverse. So, according to their functions they distinguish research (search), verification (control), reproducing experiments. Based on the nature of the objects, they are distinguished physical, chemical, biological, social and so on. There are experiments qualitative and quantitative. A thought experiment, a system of mental procedures carried out on idealized objects, has become widespread in modern science.

3. Comparison- a cognitive operation that reveals the similarity or difference of objects (or stages of development of the same object), i.e. their identity and differences. It makes sense only in a collection of homogeneous objects that form a class. Comparison of objects in a class is carried out according to characteristics that are essential for this consideration. Moreover, objects that are compared on one basis may be incomparable on another.

Comparison is the basis of such a logical technique as analogy (see below), and serves as the starting point of the comparative-historical method. Its essence is the identification of the general and special in the knowledge of various stages (periods, phases) of the development of the same phenomenon or different coexisting phenomena.

4. Description- a cognitive operation consisting of recording the results of an experiment (observation or experiment) using certain notation systems adopted in science.

5. Measure e - a set of actions performed using certain means in order to find the numerical value of the measured quantity in accepted units of measurement.

It should be emphasized that methods of empirical research are never implemented “blindly”, but are always “theoretically loaded” and guided by certain conceptual ideas.

There is a movement from ignorance to knowledge. Thus, the first stage of the cognitive process is to determine what we do not know. It is important to clearly and strictly define the problem, separating what we already know from what we do not yet know. The problem

(from the Greek problema - task) is a complex and controversial issue that requires resolution. The second step is the development of a hypothesis (from the Greek hypothesis - assumption). Hypothesis -

This is a scientifically based assumption that requires testing. If a hypothesis is proven by a large number of facts, it becomes a theory (from the Greek theoria - observation, research). Theory

is a system of knowledge that describes and explains certain phenomena; such as, for example, evolutionary theory, relativity theory, quantum theory, etc.

When choosing the best theory, the degree of its testability plays an important role. A theory is reliable if it is confirmed by objective facts (including newly discovered ones) and if it is distinguished by clarity, distinctness, and logical rigor.

Scientific facts It is necessary to distinguish between objective and scientific- this is a really existing object, process or event that took place. For example, the death of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814-1841) in a duel is a fact. Scientific fact is knowledge that is confirmed and interpreted within the framework of a generally accepted system of knowledge.

Assessments are opposed to facts and reflect the significance of objects or phenomena for a person, his approving or disapproving attitude towards them. Scientific facts usually record the objective world as it is, while assessments reflect a person’s subjective position, his interests, and the level of his moral and aesthetic consciousness.

Most of the difficulties for science arise in the process of transition from hypothesis to theory. There are methods and procedures that allow you to test a hypothesis and prove it or reject it as incorrect.

Method(from the Greek methodos - the path to the goal) is called a rule, technique, way of cognition. In general, a method is a system of rules and regulations that allow one to study an object. F. Bacon called the method “a lamp in the hands of a traveler walking in the dark.”

Methodology is a broader concept and can be defined as:

• a set of methods used in any science;
• general doctrine of method.

Since the criteria of truth in its classical scientific understanding are, on the one hand, sensory experience and practice, and on the other, clarity and logical distinctness, all known methods can be divided into empirical (experimental, practical ways knowledge) and theoretical (logical procedures).

Empirical methods of cognition

basis empirical methods are sensory cognition (sensation, perception, representation) and instrument data. These methods include:

• observation— purposeful perception of phenomena without interfering with them;
• experiment— study of phenomena under controlled and controlled conditions;
• measurement - determination of the ratio of the measured quantity to
• standard (for example, meter);
• comparison— identification of similarities or differences between objects or their characteristics.

There are no pure empirical methods in scientific knowledge, since even simple observation requires preliminary theoretical foundations - choosing an object for observation, formulating a hypothesis, etc.

Theoretical methods of cognition

Actually theoretical methods rely on rational cognition (concept, judgment, inference) and logical inference procedures. These methods include:

• analysis- the process of mental or real division of an object, phenomenon into parts (signs, properties, relationships);
• synthesis - combining the aspects of the subject identified during the analysis into a single whole;
• — combining various objects into groups based on common characteristics (classification of animals, plants, etc.);
• abstraction - distraction in the process of cognition from some properties of an object for the purpose of in-depth study of one specific aspect of it (the result of abstraction is abstract concepts such as color, curvature, beauty, etc.);
• formalization - display of knowledge in a sign, symbolic form (in mathematical formulas, chemical symbols, etc.);
• analogy - inference about the similarity of objects in a certain respect based on their similarity in a number of other respects;
• modeling— creation and study of a proxy (model) of an object (for example, computer modeling of the human genome);
• idealization— creation of concepts for objects that do not exist in reality, but have a prototype in it (geometric point, ball, ideal gas);
• deduction - movement from the general to the specific;
• induction- movement from the particular (facts) to a general statement.

Theoretical methods require empirical facts. So, although induction itself is a theoretical logical operation, it still requires experimental verification of each particular fact, therefore it is based on empirical knowledge, and not on theoretical one. Thus, theoretical and empirical methods exist in unity, complementing each other. All of the methods listed above are methods-techniques (specific rules, action algorithms).

Wider methods-approaches indicate only the direction and general way of solving problems. Method approaches can include many different techniques. These are the structural-functional method, the hermeneutic method, etc. The extremely general methods-approaches are the philosophical methods:

• metaphysical— viewing an object askew, statically, out of connection with other objects;
• dialectical- disclosure of the laws of development and change of things in their interrelation, internal contradiction and unity.

Absolutization of one method as the only correct one is called dogmatics(for example, dialectical materialism in Soviet philosophy). An uncritical accumulation of various unrelated methods is called eclecticism.