Full Idea
The goal of philosophical analysis should not be reductive analysis but rather the charting of internal relationships.
Gist of Idea
Analysis aims at internal relationships, not reduction
Source
Sydney Shoemaker (Causality and Properties [1980], §07)
Book Reference
Shoemaker,Sydney: 'Identity, Cause and Mind' [OUP 2003], p.222
A Reaction
See Idea 8558 for an attempt by Shoemaker himself. The idea that there has never been a successful analysis has become a truism among pessimistic analytic philosophers. But there are wonderful relationship maps (Quine, Davidson, Lewis, Lowe).
Related Idea
Idea 8558 One system has properties, powers, events, similarity and substance [Shoemaker]