Dialectics

What is dialectics? Dialectics is the art of context-keeping. It counsels us to study the object of our inquiry from a variety of perspectives and levels of generality, so as to gain a more comprehensive picture of it. That study often requires that we grasp the object in terms of the larger system within which it is situated, as well as its development across time. Because human beings are not omniscient ... it is only through selective abstraction that we are able to piece together a more integrated understanding of the phenomenon before us—an understanding of its antecedent conditions, interrelationships, and tendencies.

Aristotle's method is dialectical. He believes that inquiry should start from, and attempt to harmonize and explain, the 'appearances' (phainomena) -- i.e., what initially seems plausible -- where this includes not only the data of sense-perception, but also the 'reputable beliefs' (endoxa) of other people. ... Not all beliefs are equally reputable. The reputability of a belief is a function of the number of its adherents and the wisdom of its adherents. Hence endoxa are also referred to as the opinions of the many and of the wise.

Context-keeping, or dialectical thinking, is the art of seeing interconnections between disparate branches of knowledge. Of what importance is this?
It is of the greatest importance, because objectivity ... requires us to investigate empirically the possible connections between different spheres in an effort to gain integrated knowledge of the full context. This is no a priori prescription for knowledge: it is a radical recognition ... that if we are to understand a complex world comprehensively, it requires an ongoing investigation of its many interrelated aspects from shifting vantage points.