  The methodology consists of a two phase process. The first phase is dubbed the “analytic” phase (although it should be noted that sometimes Russell used the word “analysis” for the whole procedure). One begins with a certain theory, doctrine or collection of beliefs which is taken to be more or less correct, but is taken to be in certain regards vague, imprecise, disunified, overly complex or in some other way confused or puzzling. The aim in the first phase is to work backwards from these beliefs, taken as a kind of “data”, to a certain minimal stock of undefined concepts and general principles which might be thought to underlie the original body of knowledge. The second phase, which Russell described as the “constructive” or “synthetic” phase, consists in rebuilding or reconstructing the original body of knowledge in terms of the results of the first phase. More specifically, in the synthetic phase, one defines those elements of the original conceptual framework and vocabulary of the discipline in terms of the “minimum vocabulary” identified in the first phrase, and derives or deduces the main tenets of the original theory from the basic principles or general truths one arrives at after analysis. 