Differences From The Empiric and Dogmatic Schools
The Methodic school takes it to be that once a doctor has recognized the disease a patient has for what it is, the treatment that should follow is inherently obvious. It is not a matter of inference or observation, but of an immediate knowledge. To a Dogmatist, the symptoms a disease manifest is indicative of a hidden state that causes the disease. Only by knowing the hidden state can a doctor understand how to treat a patient. The symptoms manifested by a patient are indicative of the underlying state causing the disease, and the hidden state is indicative of the treatment that follows. Like the Empiricists, the Methodists refuse the notion of hidden states, claiming that there is no need to take a detour into inferences of hidden states. The symptoms manifested make it immediately obvious what needs to be done.
On the other hand, Methodists also reject the Empiricist notion that the connection between a disease and its treatment is a matter of experience. Methodists purport that experience is not necessary to understand that a state of depletion implies a need for replenishment, that a state of restraint must be loosened. To a Methodist, treatments to diseases are immediately obvious; it is a matter of common sense, of reason. There is no need for justification by experience; to Methodists, there are no conceivable alternatives to their innate knowledge of proper treatments.
Because Methodists do not take their knowledge of proper treatment as an issue of observation or experience, they are willing to concede that their knowledge is a matter of reason. On this point, the Methodists bear a similarity to Dogmatists, taking reason as a constructive approach to appropriating the proper treatment for an ailment. However, Methodists do not support the Dogmatic concept of employing reason to find hidden causes that belie the disease manifested. The causes of diseases can not be fantastic or obscure forces that would not occur in ordinary life. The key difference between Methodist doctors and Empiricist or Dogmatic doctors is that a Methodist's knowledge is "firm and certain," and that it leaves no room for future revision. Rather than rely upon reason and experience, the Methodist does what is inherently obvious; there is no room for error.
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