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Rand correlates science with concepts of method, but are the other two parts of knowledge application, namely the arts and humanities, concepts of method? |
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A very illuminating introduction to the topic of concepts of method can be found in The Ayn Rand Lexicon under the topic of "Method, Concepts of." The relation between science and concepts of method is stated as follows: All the applied sciences (i.e., technology) are sciences devoted to the discovery of methods. By "methods" Ayn Rand simply means "systematic courses of action devised by men for the purpose of achieving certain goals." This can include a wide range of possibilities, such as a method of using one's consciousness or a method of drilling for oil. "Logic" is a concept of method: ... the fundamental concept of method, the one on which all the others [i.e., all other methods] depend, is logic. (Quoted from the above-noted Lexicon topic.) Ayn Rand also includes epistemology, ethics, and medicine as sciences devoted largely to discovering methods of specific kinds. A conventional division of "knowledge application" into science, arts, and humanities isn't necessarily recognized and endorsed in Objectivist terminology without careful qualification and delineation, and I would say that all three of these categories include concepts of method, i.e., all three depend on and utilize methods of various kinds. |