Method and Language

This monograph explores the relationship between method and language. The notion of method is inherent in everything we can claim to understand. The language conventions which make a question meaningful cannot be challenged at the same time the problem is posed. Problems exist only relatively to accepted ways of thinking and doing; verification or falsification can take place only when we agree what hypotheses are in question. Our ability to be rational and critical — that is, to apply logic to our beliefs — depends on the kinds of distinctions we are able to make in our language.