ABSTRACT
Within academic philosophy there is no explicit canon of methodology for conducting investigation into a particular topic. This is good, of course, since the nature of learning and insight is not understood so well as to justify placing strict guidelines on how professionals should conduct their inquiries or guide their students. But there is a great body of philosophical history that has the earmarks of a rigorous discipline, and the Western tradition has an especially visible set of habits that constitute a method worthy of study in its own right.
