zetetic

alternative zetetical · alternative obsolete zetetick

1. not comparablehuman sciencesProceeding by inquiry or investigation.

   The zetetic approach or, as Kant translates it, the searching approach, becomes the element by means of which the discourse develops, the medium in which philosophical thinking occurs.

   1994, Willi Goetschel, Constituting Critique, page 74

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   This^([the assumption that the earth is flat]) is the doctrine held by the Zetetic school of philosophy, which some years ago made quite a stir in England.[…]An active propagandist of Zetetic doctrine is Professor William Carpenter, 71 Chew street, who has been in this country for about five years.

   1884, Edwin Archer Randolph, The Life of Rev. John Jasper, page 44

2. not comparableOf or pertaining to a form of astronomy that employs zetetic principles to argue that the Earth is flat.

   1865, Samuel Birley Rowbotham, Zetetic Astronomy, 2022 facsimile reprint, Salzwasser Verlag, page 6, Hence, in every zetetic process, the conclusion arrived at is essentially a quotient, which, if the details be correct, must, of necessity, be true beyond the reach or power of contradiction.

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   This^([the assumption that the earth is an extended plain]) is the great central zetetic assumption on which the whole theory is based.

   1887, A. Wilford Hall, editor, Scientific Arena: The Organ of the Substantial Philosophy, Volume 1, Hall & Co., page 42

   1887, Marcellus John Thompson, "Evolution of Sound" Evolved: A Review..., Standard Publishing Company, page xix, But another craze, much similar to Dr. Hall's philosophy, is now running its course among us, namely the Zetetic Philosophy, or the theory that the earth is flat—advocated especially by John Hampden, of England, and William Carpenter, of the United States. These people believe, with Parson Jasper, that "the sun do move."

plural zetetics · alternative zetetical · alternative obsolete zetetick

1. A skeptic.