How Philosophy Should Be Done

Lic. Fernando Eliécer Vásquez Barba

Doctoral thesis

Abstract:

This research has as main goal to find a satisfactory answer to the problem of philosophical method, which, in turn, lies in the lack of consensus over the existence of a common and appropriate procedure to pursue philosophical research. The source of difficulty of such lack of agreement arises when we think of philosophy as a discipline, which is taught and cultivated at different academic outposts. Certainly, the lack of a common procedure calls into question philosophy status as a discipline, since methods are usually associated with the way a given body of knowledge is taught, learnt and pursued as a research area. Put in a more practical but reflective way, how a given student is supposed to be introduced to philosophy without a clear sense of the way it should be done. In this sense, we argue that such lack of consensus is rather ostensible and a standard procedure could be made visible if we focus on the way philosophy is actually performed by some representative thinkers, rather on the methods they advocate or propose. Such strategy is supported on the idea that philosophy is, as any human activity, a pattern governed behavior whose main feature is its argumentative character. For such purposes, we examine some case studies of philosophizing, paying special attention to the conceptual frames underlying and shaping philosophers’ arguments. Similarly, we explore the metaphoricity of the concept of method.On balance, this work puts forward an argument for the existence of a proper method to philosophizing, using theories and concepts coming from the field of Cognitive Linguistics as argumentative tools.

Keywords

«method», «frames conceptual», «metaphors», «argumentation», «research philosophical»

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 25. 3. 2021

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 1. 7. 2021
• Vedúci: prof. RNDr. Jaroslav Peregrin, CSc.
• Oponent: Ondřej Beran, Preston John Stovall, Ph.D.

University of Hradec Králové

Faculty of Arts

Doctoral programme / odbor:
Filozofie / Filozofie