Introduction

The definitional and methodological underpinnings of policy thought were organized into three parts. The first defined the explanatory knowledge of policy thought in philosophically progressed thinking on the policy nature and policy itself. Policy thought was configured by a set of intellectually exploratory theories of statism, goodness, balance, practicality, and humans in policy. Aside from the contemporary Western literature, reasoned ideas and arguments have further emerged from Confucian and other oriental philosophies. The second was reserved for academic and heuristic questions around policy thought, where theories have claimed the disciplinary identity of policy studies, and in the heuristic reflections and relevance of policy theories. The final section discussed methodological issues with reference to dialogues on a pre-theoretical level, the so-called philosophical method of reductionism. This is especially arguable in the philosophy of mind and system thinking, yet this method can be used to learn and develop metaphysical knowledge in policy thought as a first- or proto-thought theory not a second theory and/or an anthology.