A Philosophic Matrix Approach to Problem Solving

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Scientific Paper
Title A Philosophic Matrix Approach to Problem Solving
Author(s) Robert J Heaston
Keywords epistemology, Vienna Circle, matrix philosophy
Published 2006
Journal Proceedings of the NPA
Volume 3
Number 1
Pages 65-71

Abstract

An axiomatic general theory of knowledge, or epistemology, was developed in the 1960s and presented at international philosophy conferences. One particular presentation was at the 14th International Congress of Philosophy in Vienna, Austria in 1968, which hosted a reunion of the Vienna Circle of logical positivism. My approach, which is called matrix philosophy, is a form of propositional calculus involving surrogate concepts rather than symbols. This approach was used as a basis of a dissertation on The Philosophic Limits of Political Choice that was selected in June 1975 as one of the top-three independent research papers for the school year of 1974-1975 at the National War College in Washington, DC. Later the theory was adapted as a practical general problem-solving model to use in a PERT-like ?Management Experiment? to oversee all conventional weapons science and technology in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1983 to 1987. The objective of this talk is to describe the epistemology, the matrix approach, the problem-solving model and the lessons learned.