Its generally accountable to the philosophical community who over time have generated certain critical standards; its in relation, or rather dialogue to this authority that ones own thought becomes critical & authoritative; this is one one reason to signpost readings of either the primary or secondary literature; and this is often reflected in style.

This doesn't mean that the canon of philosophical works become a 'dead weight' but that they're used to draw up a map & orientation; one also becomes aware of the vast weight of previous argumentation and their repercussions on the cultural firmament of the time.

For example Hannah Arendt uses the phenomenological orientation of Husserl & Heidegger to orient her understanding of political science - this looks at philosophy as being in the world as opposed to from sub specie aeternitas (from the viewpoint of eternity). She counters the valorisation of Platos contemplation with action in the public sphere - ie politics and this draws on her understanding of how politics was understood in the Greek city-state.

Another example would be the Anglo-American analytic tradition which though in a narrow sense was stimulated by the logical argumenation and rigor of Russel, Frege & Wittgenstein; in a wider sense it is derived from the the style of argumentation in Plato where clarity in thought is seen as a natural good; and this is filtered through the European Enlightment tradition.

What can be called the counter-Enlightment takes its orientation with artistic Romanticism; its exemplars are Nietzsche & Derrida amongst others. Their writings tend towards contradiction, polemic and obscurity; their work resists easy reading as the thought is concealed. One can consider it as a code that can be broken in several ways or creatively 'misread'.

And their are the isms that help orient writers in the larger picture and thus orient in what way they are in dialogue with each other; a philosopher doesn't belong to a certain school; more that one should see these isms as a prism that overlays their writings and refracts it in many different directions; whereas seeing the influence of their philosophical predecessors turns their texts into a kindof palimpsest.

Its generally accountable to the philosophical community who over time have generated certain critical standards; its in relation, or rather dialogue to this authority that ones own thought becomes critical & authoritative; this is one one reason to signpost readings of either the primary or secondary literature; and this is often reflected in style.

This doesn't mean that the canon of philosophical works become a 'dead weight' but that they're used to draw up a map & orientation; one also becomes aware of the vast weight of previous argumentation and their repercussions on the cultural firmament of the time.

For example Hannah Arendt uses the phenomenological orientation of Husserl & Heidegger to orient her understanding of political science - this looks at philosophy as being in the world as opposed to from sub specie aeternitas (from the viewpoint of eternity). She counters the valorisation of Platos contemplation with action in the public sphere - ie politics and this draws on her understanding of how politics was understood in the Greek city-state.

Another example would be the Anglo-American analytic tradition which though in a narrow sense was stimulated by the logical argumenation and rigor of Russel, Frege & Wittgenstein; in a wider sense it is derived from the the style of argumentation in Plato where clarity in thought is seen as a natural good; and this is filtered through the European Enlightment tradition.

What can be called the counter-Enlightment takes its orientation with artistic Romanticism; its exemplars are Nietzsche & Derrida amongst others. Their writings tend towards contradiction, polemic and obscurity; their work resists easy reading as the thought is concealed. One can consider it as a code that can be broken in several ways or creatively 'misread'.

And their are the isms that help orient writers in the larger picture and thus orient in what way they are in dialogue with each other; a philosopher doesn't belong to a certain school; more that one should see these isms as a prism that overlays their writings and refracts it in many different directions; whereas seeing the influence of their philosophical predecessors turns their texts into a kind of palimpsest.

All this isn't just true of philosophy, but of any scholarly tradition; and is true of the sciences - say Mathematics or Physics. One could ask of a more particular methodology; in the physical sciences for example there is the notion of the 'repeatable experiment'. But there is no such empirical inquiry - but the larger sense of observation is important; and thus, for example Arendt relies on testimony (and what is this if not observation?) filtered through the secondary literature to examine the notion that she calls Totalitarianism in her book of the same name, as a political institution in its own right - through its roots and its future; and how it is in fact characterised.