Questions of method
on describing the individual as exemplary
pp. 3-31
in: Hugh J. Silverman, Algis Mickunas, Alphonso Lingis, Theodore Kisiel (eds), The horizons of continental philosophy, Berlin, Springer, 1988Abstract
In any science the problem of the beginning is one of the most crucial ones to be investigated first. It presents itself in two ways. First, the neophyte is introduced to the vocabulary and the practices now in force in the science wnich he wishes to help further. Secondly, researchers already familiar with and proficient in the sciences reflect upon the basic assumptions which have brought that science to its present state with a view to test these in the light of that present state and its portents for the future. These reflections upon the foundations of the science concerned address themselves to other researchers familiar with the field, and their results find their way into basic texts only when they cause a major re-shuffling of basic premises and practices. A case in point is the development of new techniques for the teaching of mathematics based upon the work done in the last hundred years in the logic foundations of mathematics and in set-theory.