Method and Truth

Abstract: Against the common notion in hermeneutics, that methods are of minor importance for scholarly research, I argue here in favour of the importance of methods in the humanities. First, I show that even before the invention of the computer, there was already a small scholarly tradition of method-driven approaches. Then I review recent examples of research, which make extensively use of computational methods and their methodology of modelling research questions. By a series of these examples taken from different fields of the humanities I show how specifically computational approaches transform the humanities towards a method-driven field of research. Finally, by systematising the results I defend the central role of methods in scholarly research and pledge for method-driven humanities.

Keywords:
Methods, methodology of the humanities, quantitative approaches, formalisation, modelling, computational approaches

DOI: 10.26350/9788834352595_000006