Microsoft Word - IGWEBUIKE JOURNAL VOL. 5. NO. 5.docx IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 19 PHILOSOPHICAL APPRECIATION OF IGWEBUIKE METHODOLOGY Jude I. Onebunne, PhD Department of Philosophy Faculty of Arts Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka ji.onebunne@unizik.edu.ng, 080340734664 Abstract There is no scholarship that can worth the scientific and systematic rigor without methods at the heart of such scholarly enterprise. Philosophical enterprise is not possible without method. From ancient history of philosophy, across medieval time through the modern period unto the contemporary era, the method of philosophizing sustains such moments and indeed differentiates their discussions. Hence, no method, no philosophy. Igwebuike methodology, however, specifies the framework of Igwebuike within and without. Keywords: Igwebuike, Method, Philosophy, Kanu Ikechukwu Anthony, Complementarity Introduction Philosophy as systematic study is not possible without a method. Methodological approach therefore is very fundamental in understanding and doing philosophy. In a very strict sense, no method no philosophy. A part of the problem we have in philosophy is method and that is why without it anything goes. Without method in any philosophical enterprise, many things that cannot stand the litmus test of science nor assume the nature of philosophy. Hence, there are confusions in the boundaries of philosophy because there is neither one method nor specified methodological instrument used in the approach. Method remains the principal tool for philosophizing. This work x-rays method in the light of philosophizing. Method, however, retains prominence in the practice and doing of philosophy. To define this concept of method and to determine the type of method that may be proper in philosophy become a problem that is not only as old as philosophy but as contemporary as in our time. The ideas of philosophical method will lead us to the question whether philosophy has any method that is particular and specific to it. The work at hand tries to x-ray these problems in different chapters therein. Through different methods used in the IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 20 doing of philosophy some have thought that philosophers do not agree and this is the perennial problem of philosophy. As rightly written: Has philosophy a method of its own? Plato and Hegel thought so, they disagreed about its nature but agreed in calling it “dialectics”. For Bergson it was intuition, for Wittgenstein the uncovering of nonsense, for Moritz Schlick clarification, and for Husserl phenomenological description. Hume, on the other hand, thought that the philosopher should imitate the methods of experimental inquiry, while Spinoza believed that philosopher should imitate the geometrical (Edwards, 1967, p. 218). It is only through the method acceptable in philosophy as a rational study, through a scientific approach, can one do philosophy. This work reiterates this stand showing the definitive demand of method in philosophical engagements, irrespective of different philosophical methods. The method applied in this work is analysis with some hermeneutical bent. However, The diversity of these opinions would strongly suggest that to define philosophy in terms of any particular method is to take sides in a philosophical dispute. Historically speaking, philosophers have made us of a great variety of procedures”(Edwards, 1967, p.128) This paper is in many parts dealing with introduction, Defining Moments of Method, Understanding Method as Method, Method as a Definitive Demand in Philosophy, Different Methods of Philosophy and Conclusion. Defining Moments of Method In our studies in philosophy we are faced with the basic and premier problematic concerning its method and methodological approaches in philosophy. Method must be given a strictly formal and scholarly attention. If philosophy is to be studied in its intent, content, extents, context and formal objects, there must be method or methods and methodological approaches in attaining meaningful defining principles of philosophy as a search for the ultimate meaning in life. Remarkably, therefore, with method, philosophical enterprise excludes illusions, dreams, soothsaying, fiction, myth or legendary, mysticism or exoticism, hearsay IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 21 and academic gossips. Without method our philosophical mind and philosophical engagements may not have survived and obeyed the needed basic scientific exigencies of philosophy. Lack of method in philosophy do grave harm to philosophy’s scientific reality and veracity. Method in philosophy is inevitable and indispensable and thereby guarantees a sure scientific means to the deposits of scientific definitions in philosophy. Method is a very fundamental scientific factor and criterion in philosophical enterprise. We employ it in our academic attempt to define and determine the formal boundaries and systematic meaning of philosophy, since philosophy goes for scientific philosophicality in all ramifications. Hence, we must know that scientific philosophicality in philosophy includes among others the method involved in the philosophic enterprises. Method, therefore, remains a categorical parameter and fundamental imperative for doing and defining philosophy and its principles and limits. By these basic assumptions, annunciations and exigencies in place; philosophy possesses and performs with the correct principles, materials, tools, subjects and objectives. Method therefore becomes a definitive demand in philosophy. Method being taking as definitive demand in philosophy becomes a defining moment in which one gets to the philosophical issues in questions. The defining of moment of method refers to those issues that demand systematic approach, of which when not applied, leads to contradictions and illogicalities. Such moments have to do with the steps or different methodological approaches needed to be involved in realizing one’s set goals in philosophical discourse. Understanding Method Method, by way of definition is an orderly or systematic arrangement (The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary, 2004). It is simply a procedure with regard to a regular or systematic arrangement, design or way of accomplishing something. It is an ordering arrangement of steps to accomplish an end or a goal. Therefore, method is a technique characteristic of a particular discipline. It is an established way of doing anything one is engaged in. method is therefore synonymous with system, routine, mode, manner, fashion and way,(The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary, 2004).These synonyms with method refer to a plan followed to accomplish a task or attain a goal. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 22 Going through the root, method literally comes from Greek word methodos (after- road) designating the way in which the totality is acquired and built-up. We approach an area of knowledge methodologically when we study according to plan, work out its particular areas, organize the various bits of knowledge logically and bring out as many relationships as possible. Method in this sense therefore entails a pattern and implies a detailed, logically ordered plan, a form of order, regularity and systematic co-ordinations. However, “method and system makeup the essence of science. System concerns the content of the science while method has to do with the formal aspect” (Baker, 1972). However, our reference point is philosophy. And among the many divisions of method, reference should be made here to the distinction, very important for philosophy, between the analytic and synthetic methods. Philosophy in its many methods first has need of analysis but through it prepares the way for synthesis. However, the scientific investigation of the problems concerned with the methods is methodology. More so, a great help to the methodical development of science in any field is a distinct and clear terminology. We must note that philosophical method is a method used in the study of philosophy. It is acceptable among philosophers that philosophy is distinguished by the methods philosophers apply and follow in addressing philosophical questions and issues. There is, however, not just one method that philosophers use to answer philosophical questions or solve philosophical problems. These methods are forms of philosophical research that lead to the goal of philosophizing. Method is an intrinsic thing in philosophy. When you have a method, you have done it. If you are following a method, you are doing it. If you are not following any method, you have skipped out and already missing the mark. Method in this basic understanding leads to the terminus ad quem of the project at hand. And to reach your goal in philosophizing therefore, means to have applied a method. Having gone thus far, method is that with which we convey or arrive at what we have set out to say, do or accomplish. Appreciation of Method in Philosophical Traditions Method or methodology has been a fundamental aspect of philosophy. Method is an established modus operandi for proper and expected results. Hence, it defines the systematicity and scientificity of any discipline as such. Methodology therefore is the philosophy and philosophical concepts to worth the name must IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 23 have a procedure for any philosophical enterprise to worth the name. Methodology according to Onebunne, (2019, p.1) is a definitive demand in philosophy and in particular in African Philosophy. Hence Onebunne, (2019, p.1) reiterates thus: “philosophy as a systematic study is not possible without a method”. Hence he asserts categorically that, no method, no philosophy. Igwebuike as a philosophical concept must share some methodological moments to worth the name. In the proper study or researches on Igwebuike, there are “system of methods used in a particular area of study (internet). This is simply referred to as Igwebuike Methodology. Igwebuike Methodology is a search for the systematicity as well as the scientificity employed by the frontliner philosopher of Igwebuike philosophy. Philosophical enterprise is only possible through a methodological approach. Hence some philosophers identify philosophy with method. Method as a Definitive Demand in Philosophy The history of philosophy is enriching as a result of numerous methods and methodological approaches shown in many perennial philosophic engagements. Every philosophy or philosopher has a method of philosophizing and reaching its formal objects. Philosophy we must know is not a method but through method philosophy fulfils the search for wisdom. However, philosophy as a method is seen elementarily in Epistemology and logics, then to the areas of philosophical engagements. Philosophy is more than a method. Rather philosophy approaches issues through method. Methodological approach has been the basis of any philosophical enterprise. “Method is unavoidable in philosophy” (Osuagwu, 1991, p.91).Therefore, method remains an essential and a categorical demand if one must or has to philosophize. It is so crucial that it is an essential condition and demand for philosophy. Philosophy qua philosophy cannot be done without a method since it is a science that demands a system and a search for the ultimate in any and everything. The place and significance of method in philosophical enterprise make some extreme adherents to see philosophy of method. Nevertheless”, method is unavoidable in philosophy. It is so crucial as to become the criterion and the condition of possibility, validity and solidity” (Osuagwu, 1991, p.91). This is why method is being treated here as a definitive demand if one has to really philosophize. Without method one cannot practice this art of The definitive prominence of method in philosophy has left us with variant methodological approaches along with the presumed perennial problem of philosophy that philosophers hardly agree on. Rather, methods in philosophy have in the long run given philosophy a face lift as a lively IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 24 enterprise. Every philosophy searches for the ultimate through a method. In the words of Osuagwu, M. Philosophy as philosophizing or reasoning, is in the final analysis, characteristically individually by its disciplinary commission an activity. It is also characteristically collective but by its problem, project, conclusions and purpose... in other words, philosophy is in and individual vocation and employments but and which has community ordination and teleology (Osuagwu, 2001, p.31). Method is involved in these allusions. And these can only be appreciated in philosophy through defined methodological approaches. Without method attaining the goals of philosophy may not only be difficult but cloudy. Hence, By method, philosophy adopts the scientific norms of Systematicity or orderliness, rigor, logicality, critically. These methodologically characters of philosophy are scientifically meant to guarantee a high degree of refinement of spirit that guarantees the qualities of epistemological economy and vigilance regarding the operation and aim of philosophy (Osuagwu, 1999, p.90). Most philosophers may not have started with any precise method but along the line, they end up using and/or introducing a method for their philosophical enterprises. Hence no single known philosopher tried philosopher tried philosophizing without being confronted with the problem and issue of method. Method in philosophy is indispensable. It remains a basis approach and major questions for many philosophers. The doing and application of philosophy centre on method. It sets limit and boundaries with regard to other disciplines. Method retains a prominent position in philosophical enterprise for scientific appreciation and systematic understanding in philosophy. Therefore, When positively seen, method is criteriological condition for the possibility of science; it is a categorical imperative for science discover the truth and meaning of reality. Negatively, method is an effective way to detect, correct and avoid error or falsehood IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 25 (Osuagwu, 1999, p.90). Method, however, means the necessary order to be rigorous imposed on an area of scientific enterprise in order to attain theoretical and practical aims of truth and falsehood, meaning, knowledge and action. To do philosophy properly one has to confront the issue of method. Europeans then confronted it with many philosophical engagements and today African philosophy is into it. It is a serious issue in African philosophy. So, to define African philosophy, scientific primacy and determinacy of subject area or matter, of method and purpose is strictly to be accorded to philosophy (Osuagwu, 2001, p.29). Method differentiates philosophical issues from other disciplines, thereby asserting what philosophy is all about and tends to achieve as an object. Philosophy has many divergent view and unifying opinions aligned to one object ultimate (truth) through wisdom (reason). Hence, method when properly applied or used in philosophy leads to the truth which philosophy seeks. Therefore, It is defective to malign and dismiss philosophy for the diversity or divergence, the difference or the disagreement of the philosophers. such polarity of views is the normal fate of philosophy due to its variety of methods and language. Preferred by each philosopher in the pursuit of this enterprise and teleos However, the worry over the perennial problem of philosophy that philosophers don’t agree may stand above such ill-fated and short sighted critical view. Philosophic enterprise enjoys some terms of collaboration that are most often initiated by professional individuals. Hence, “when properly seen, the opinions of philosophers become collaborating part and parcel of the architectonic attempts by individual members of the philosophic community”(Osuagwu, 2001, p.32). Therefore, method as a defining principle follows from its systematicity or properly put, its scientificity. Moreover, the determining significance and appreciation of method for philosophy as an enterprise is seen when philosophy is only done through different methodological approaches. Method is an aspect of the basic meaning and practice of science in general, as of the science of philosophy in particular. Because, it’s so crucial and categorical, IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 26 method becomes a major principle, fundamental criterion and necessary condition for the possibility and existence and validity of philosophy. Method constitutes, for philosophy, a basic problem and project. A methodic or methodological enterprise demands a rigor and investigative nerve in attaining the truth of anything while excluding all forms of academic laziness and inability to research. And as Osuagwu puts it: Method disciplines the inquiry mind to obey necessary basic rules of orderliness, systematicity, rigor, criticality, clarity and certitude of investigation and knowledge, of expression and action. In this way method guarantees a high degree of refinement of philosophic spirit (Osuagwu, 2001, p.32). Philosophy may not be an enterprise that is worthwhile and fundamental, systematic and scientific without a method. Philosophy must conform to the objective exigencies of the formal methodology of the given discipline. Therefore, no matter from where, when and by whom a method is developed, what remains necessary is that the scientific rules and regulations of the method and its discipline be valid, available and respect. And such methods provide philosophers with an option for defining, identifying and clarifying issues in philosophy reliable. Methodological issues in philosophy therefore are always of serious concern and demands attention. Whichever method one employs in any philosophical enterprise, the basic rules and principles of rationality, systematicity, rigor, interrogation, investigation, novelty, creativity, discovery and meaningfulness must be applied within as part of the methodological approaches Philosophy itself can be validly understood epistemologically as a method which the mind must follow in order to arrive at knowledge per excellence. Methodology as we might have come to realize complements epistemology which is one of the basic problems of philosophy as a scientific inquiry. Different Methods of Philosophy Philosophical methods refer to modus operandi that is exclusively associated either with a class or with an object. Method usually consists of a sequence of statements of perform action, within parameters. The purpose of methods is to provide a mechanism for accessing of philosophy shows some of the method. A IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 27 good philosophical method guarantees one reaching the primary goal of philosophical engagements. Socratic Method. It is a philosophical method used by Socrates, father of western ethics and moral philosophy. It can be referred to as method of Elenchus or Socratic Debate. It is a dialectic method of inquiry, largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts and first described by Plato in the Socratic Dialogues. It is a form of philosophical inquiry. The practice involves asking a series of questions surrounding a central issue, and answering questions of the others involved. It means engaging someone in a dialogue. Plato famously formalized the Socratic Elenctic style in prose, presenting Socrates as the curious questioner of some prominent Athenian interlocutor. This method and questioning his fellow citizens about some moral and epistemological issues. This is Methodic-Socratic questioning. It describes a kind of questioning in which an original question is responded to as though it were an answer. This is turn forces the first questioner to reformulate a new questions, with the result that the student comes either to the desired knowledge by answering the questions or to a deeper awareness of the limits of knowledge Dialectics. Dialectics, from the Greek term dialektike means to converse, to discuss. It is the logic of reasoning, or a logical structure that holds together a continuous line of thought or exposition. The determination of truth is arrived at by assertion of theory (Thesis), its denial (Antithesis), and the summing of the two to form a new theory (Synthesis). It is the practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments and ideas. This process pre-dates to Hegel, including Freidrich Engels and Karl Max. Dialectics with its schematic version of a critical method of arriving at the truth starts with a thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis. Put the other way, dialectics is a reasoning structure that holds together a continuous argument. It is an on-going process and a continuous logical expression; a controversy that allows a unification of opposites in a higher form. In some philosophers like Plato and IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 28 others, it is a method of philosophical inquiry conducted by question and answer. Dialectics is the general approach in Hegel’s philosophy. It is therefore not merely a logical expression rather it comprises the unfolding of the totality, knowledge, being and history in three moments of thesis, anti- thesis and synthesis. In his philosophy which is a dialectical construction of all aspects of reality, Hegel englobes. Whatever is, has been, and can be into the dialectical process. Phenomenological Method (Phenomenology). It is a method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or understood in human consciousness. It emphasizes immediacy of experience, pure data of consciousness, uncontaminated by metaphysical theories or scientific assumptions A phenomenon is that which appears. And the basic concept is the study of appearances. It is a philosophical movement based on the investigation of phenomenon as originated in 1905 by Edmud Husserl (and popularized by hegel’s title: The phenomenology of the spirit) who hoped to return philosophy to concrete experience. Martin Heidegger, Husserl’s student developed an amended or modify from of it as existentialism and the modern tradition of Hermeneutics. It was reinterpreted in France by Marcel, Ricoeur, Sarte and Merlean-Ponty. Through phenomenology method, one investigates the ground and constitution of meaning by reflective scrutiny of the sense-giving acts. Referencing as a Method. Reference according to Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary is an incidental allusion or direction of the attention 15. It gives room for dependability. Reference is one of the terms of methodological approaches in philosophy,. Referencing, in the long run remains a method of reaching for a goal of philosophy, the ultimate truth of things. Philosophical enterprise has witnessed many scholars in the history who had done tangible work and made remarkable contributions to philosophy. Referencing therefore becomes necessary and the only means of standing on the authority and sincere contributions of such thinkers. Referencing in philosophy to an existing effort and authority is a method of philosophy and philosophizing. Therefore, all our research work and consultation, quoting and IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 29 citing any academic authority and more delving into philosophical deposits is a referential method of striking our point without much fear of contradictions. Methodic Doubt as a Method. It is a philosophical systematic method of process of being skeptical about (or doubting) the truth of one’s belief as so be certain with what is true. It was initiated and popularized by Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650). This Cartesian doubt can also be known as hyperbolic doubt. It is in his famous saying “cogito ergo sum,” (I think, therefore I am), Descartes, however, resolved to systematically doubt that any of his belief was true in order to build, from the ground up, a belief system consisting of only true beliefs. Thus, he declared: Several years have done now elapsed since I first became aware that I had accepted, even from my youth, many false options for true, and consequently what I afterward based on such principles was highly doubtful. And from that time I was convinced of necessity of undertaking once in my life to rid myself of all options I had adopted, and of commencing a new, the work of building from the foundation… Methodic doubt, however, becomes another process of attaining knowledge of things. Descartes applied methodic doubt to everything from God, to external word, and even to himself, but ultimately concluded that he could be certain of each . Hermeneutics as a Method. The term hermeneutics is a Latinazed version of the Greek hermeneuo (hermentice) meaning to interpret or translate from the messenger of god, Hermes. Its history stretches back ancient philosophy. Many philosophers like Plato and Aristotle used his word to be contrasted and rendered respectively as Sophia and interpretation. Other philosopher like Augustine, Dithery, Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Aquinas, Friedrich, Scheiemarcher, and Benedict Spinoza were all involved in this hermeneutics usage. Hermeneutics is a theory and practice of interpretation, originally the interpretation, of texts, especially religious texts. Hence, the Hermeneutics cycle is IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 30 the process by which we return to a text, or to the world, and derive a new interpretation perhaps a new interpretation every time, or new method for every interpreter or scholar as the case may be. Hermeneutics in its systematic interpretation is concerned, of course, with getting to the meaningful reality, often through a deconstruction of already preconceive and based ideas; whatever built ups one has already. Hence, Hermeneutics is about interpretation, which is about meaning which is about whatever is understood (while fundationationalism is about Reality, which is about known, which is about what is known”), (Ross, 2008). Hermeneutics is a project of getting at meaningful interpretation. The term Hermeneutics is a science of interpretation or meaning (Iroegbu, 1996, p.101). This kind of interpretation or meaning is based on integral interpretation of whatever is on the concrete and abstract comprehension and understanding of reality in its wholeness or totality based on the natural and even aided quest and search for meaningfulness. The hermeneutics project, therefore, is always for ultimate explanations. As Iroegbu, p., alludes that, To be consistently rational, one must inquire further into total ultimacy. Not to explain a given reality up to its ultimacy or to limit its ultimacy to its one aspect is to fail to explain it in its most important aspect. It is a Hermeneutical failure” (Iroegbu, 1996, p.101). More so, the innate desire for meaningfulness in man necessitates and promotes this philosophic methodological approach known as hermeneutics. Merriam- Webster’s collegiate Dictionary 11th Ed defines hermeneutics as, “the study of the methodological principles of interpretation” or “a method or principle of interpretation” (Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary, 2006). However, in line with this definition, man as a meaning seeking being, is seen as animal hermeneuticum. The term hermeneutics covers both the first order and the second order theory of understanding and interpretation of linguistic and non-linguistic expressions. It emerged as a general branch in biblical studies. It has only turned ontological within the works of Martin Heiddegger’s Sein und Zeit. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 31 Now hermeneutics is not only about symbolic communication. Its area is even more fundamental: that of human life and existence as such. It is in this form, as an interrogation into the deepest conditions for symbolic interaction and culture in general, that hermeneutics has provided the critical horizon for many of the most intriguing discussion of contemporary philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005). Hermeneutics is basically interpretation and analysis of term and languages and concepts so as to discover in them the underlying philosophical score presupposed and expressed or aimed at. Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation beyond simple literary meaning. Hermeneutics, therefore, in a very strict sense crystallizes, systematizes and articulates principles which are hidden in the issue at stake. It makes clear and brings to consciousness that which has all along been assumed and presumed after intense intellectual activity of systematic interpretation. This interpretation becomes a tool of operation and understanding and analysis of any conceptual question. The Analytic Method (Analysis). Analysis is a philosophical method. It literary means breaking-down of a whole into parts. As method it is a cluster of philosophical inquiry. It grew out from a philosophical school of 20th Century, practiced in the United State and Great Britain, whose central methodology is the logical analysis of concepts or study of language in which they are expressed. Proponents of this method are Bertrand Russel, Geoge Edward Moore, Rudolf Carnap and Ludwig Wittgenstein. This analytic method, however, gave room to analytic philosophy. Philosophical analysis is a general term for techniques typically used by philosophers in the analytic tradition that involve breaking down (i.e. analyzing ) philosophical issues. Arguably the most prominent of these techniques is the analysis of concepts known as conceptual analysis(http://en.Wikipedia.Or/wiki/rights). Analysis as a philosophical method has been understood and used in different ways. In the broadest sense, according to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, it means IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 32 “a process of isolating or working back to what is more fundamental by means of which something, initially taken as given, can be explained or reconstructed.The Explanation or reconstruction is often then exhibited in a corresponding process of synthesis. The aim may be to get back to basis, but there may be all sorts of ways of doing This, Each of which might be called analysis’’ (http://Stanford.Edu/entries/analysis). The same understanding is expressed by the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy which defines analysis as the process of breaking a concept down into more simple parts so that its logical structure is displayed.The above understanding may be called the decompositional conception of analysis. The ancient Greek thought, however, had a regressive conception of the term. It used it to refer to the process of working back to first principles by means of which something could be demonstrated. The word ‘’analysis’’ is derived from the Greek word analusis, meaning ‘’loosening up or dissolutiom’’. Its use was extended to the solving or dissolving of problems. its use in the methodological sense was firstly employed in ancient Greek geometry and later, in Greek philosophy, with much influence on both plato and Aristotle. The influence was especially apparent in Socrates’ preoccupation with definitions in which the roots of modern conceptual analysis can be found. In the modern era, especially with the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, new forms of analysis emerged, the newest through ‘’the development of more sophisticated mathematics techniques, but even these still had their roots in earlier conceptions of analysis. By the end of the early modern period, decompositional analysis had become dominant’’ (http://Plato.Stanford.Edu/entries/analysis). Historical Method of Philosophy. Historicism or rightly put Historical method is always an attempt to go into the past of any issue so as to be well footed in the present. Philosophy has a history as old as man, which stretches from the ancient period across the Dark Age, Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Modern time unto the Contemporary period. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 33 History has to do with a record narrative of the past event with regard to particular event, period, nation or individual. Historical method is a veritable area for studies, for philosophizing. As Osuagwu notes: Of special note is the fact that recording history involves a high degree of the phenomenological attitude: an epistemological recording or a psychological aesthetic- artistic representation (description) that lets the historical facts to, as much as possible, manifest themselves in what they were when they first happened.This is a delicate stage in the historian’s task; it demands a very high degree of professionalism of impracticality, objectivity and of scholarly imagination which restrains from the temptation of impose extrapolations, corruption and detraction, or for betrayal by intrusive materials prejudicial to original historical facts (Osuagwu, 1999, p.57-58). Through Historical method, we discovered that the history of philosophy obeys three basic methodological exigencies of the science of history, with the margin of specificity characteristics of the history of philosophy, (Osuagwu, 1999, p.57- 58). Moreso, in African philosophy the historical moments of reduction, deconstructions and construction. The interplay of history in philosophy offers one a wide range of opportunity to articulate some basic philosophical principles in history. When we talk of the history of philosophy and philosophy of history we may think of relating philosophy with history. Moreover, historical sources are not totally different from philosophical sources. Therefore, in considering these historical exigencies needed for historical method, one needs to visit the deposits of history. Thus, with regard to doing philosophy, especially African philosophy, historical method is ad rem. As Osuagwu puts it, Historical text can be classified as oral verbal as written and solid or material. Oral documents are found in interviews, narrations, audio, songs, stories, etc. Written documents (literature) are contained in papyri, Scrolls, books, tablets, inscriptions, annals, correspondences, computers, films. Finally, material documents are found in monuments like tablets, papyri, Books medals, trophies, art and architectural works, Like audio, videos, temples, tombs, pottery, arms, IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 34 jewellery, and currencies. In considering these historical sources, auxiliary disciplines come into close coopration: archelogy, epigraph, Papyrology, paleontology, numismatics, etc. These history-oriented and history-intensive sciences further aim at the classification and critique and sources at the Foundation of history. The premier task of the historian is to collect the most appropriate texts which help our knowledge of past events in a given area. In this, the genius of the researcher-historian is a capital factor. Once the discovery of the basic historical texts is accomplished, the technical exigencies of narration and recording, as of explanation, interpretation, preservation, evaluation, dissemination or communication come into play (Osuagwu, 1999, p.57). Added to the known and acceptable methods of philosophy there is this fundamental methodic approach of doing African philosophy that borders on recovering from the past and asserting the existence which is HistoricalMethod with four cognate moments of African Philosophico-Historical Deconstruction, African Philosophico-Historical Reduction, African Philosophico-Historical Reconstruction and African Philosophico-Historical Construction. Nevertheless, Makumba, (2007, p.17), opined that “the essence of African Philosophy should be read holistically in the context of its historical development”. We must note that all the formal methods of philosophy of the early western philosophical tradition can be in one way or the other be applied in the cognate moments of historical period. Such four methodological moments are possibly applicable in our contemporary era if we can make a meaningful scholarship. These historico- methodological moments are great foundational possibility for African philosophical scholarship. Igwebuike Philosophy Igwebuike Philosophy is an African philosophy. Igwebuike philosophy as Kanu’s conceptual coinage has been a complementary philosophy. Igwebuike Philosophy is an African Metaphysics of communal strength. In the words of Kanu, (2018, p.7): “Igwebuike is the modality of being in African philosophy. It is from the Igbo composite word and metaphor Igwebuike, a combination of three words” African Philosophy IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 35 African philosophy in the thoughts of Makumba, (2007, p.17) is“a necessary feature of the contemporary philosophical discourse and indispensable in the instrument in the formation of culture today”. It is recently appreciated as a movement and as a discipline. It is a movement because it tries to emancipates and reclaim all the known stolen traditional philosophical legacies within and without Africa reality.As a discipline, African Philosophy is a scientific study of reality in its philosophicality and Africanity. Gone are the days of questioning the possibility of the existence of African philosophy. African philosophy is now than ever a possibility.Ozumba, G. O. reiterates thus The question of African philosophy has in this century assumed an important place in the works of philosophers-both Euro- American and African philosophers. To talk about ethno- philosophy has more than before brought in Africa a new awakening as African philosophers have been awakened from their nonchalant slumber which has left the vast spectrum of African system of thought largely in the limbo. Today, like wounded lions, an appreciable number of philosophers of African origin have demonstrated a new zest which has been manifested in the outburst for the show of not only patriotism but a display of the intellectual excellence that characterizes the scholarship that obtains in African universities, especially in their faculties of philosophy. In recent times we have witnessed a plethora of articles and books that could rightly be said to fall into the area of African philosophy. Is it that Africans have only of late realized that the unwritten nature of African world-view is causing the existence of a lacuna in the chain of world philosophy? Africans must have realized the need to show as other continents have done that she has her own system of thought and perception about life. In line with this Osuagwu, (1999, p.26), alluded to this thus, “African Philosophy has been very much denied, rejected and neglected on grounds of its controversial genuine historicity, scientificity and authentic Africanity. But with their educational and researches, Africans have been enabled to make affirmative or favourable claims a propos”. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 5, September 2019. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print) (A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) 36 The criteria are derived from the two principal determining terms African and philosophy. African philosophy is at the same time African and philosophical. In and by these terms, we are searching, on one hand, for the genuine philosophicality, i.e., formal scientific philosophy, of the said African enterprise, and on the other hand, for the authentic scientific Africanity of that scientific philosophy. These two basic scientific criteria make African philosophy to bear the characteristic marks of its particularity and universality. By its Africanity, African philosophy is a particular regional contextualization, reflection and expression of the universal and by its philosophicality, it is a universalization, a universal vocation, ordination, destination and determination of and in the African particular. Conclusion on Igwebuike Methodology As an African Philosophy Igwebuike philosophy applies all the known philosophical method as well as the method proper to African philosophy. Igwebuike Methodology understood as method is the avenue through which we understand our work. It gives room for one to review systemically without fear of error or contradictions what one has done or accepted as a result of systematic or scientific approach. If you are operating outside method, there would definitely be an error, repetitions or contradictions and illogicalities; there may not be limits or boundaries. In this understanding, method serves as a guide, protectors and safety or security of our work. Without method there could be no scientific thinking or writing. Such will be filled with academic flaws and contradictions showing lack of investigative nerve for researching. References Kanu, I. A. (2017). Igwebuike as an Igbo-African Ethic of Reciprocity. Igwebuike: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 3 No 2. Kanu, I. A. (2017). Igwebuike as a wholistic Response to the Problem of Evil and Human Suffering. Igwebuike: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 3 No 2. Kanu, I. A. (2017). Igwebuike and and Logic (NKA) of African Philosophy”. 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