Publication Details

Abstract

The present article is the third part of a longer paper in which we outline a model of (scientific) method as a system of instructions aimed at a certain kind of (cognitively interesting) goal. Building on the results of the previous part concerning the notions of instruction and its occurrence, the present article specifies the ways of chaining the occurrences. The occurrences of instructions constitute linear chains if involving only the occurrences of categorical or simple hypothetical instructions; a chain is non-linear provided there is at least one complex hypothetical instruction in it. Every chain of occurrences can be represented as a sequence of postulate and derivate transitions. The method is represented as an oriented graph consisting of the chains of occurrences of instructions. We specify various formal and informal constraints that are to be met by a graph if it is to be taken as a representation of a method. Finally, we describe a link between the model of method proposed in this part and our intuitive specification of method as a kind of problem solving activity given in the first part of our paper.