Reading: Introduction – The First Way of a Transcendental Critique of Philosophical Thought, (pp. 3 - 21).
Dooyeweerd's topic in volume 1 of NCTT is "the necessary presuppositions of philosophy". In part 1 (the prolegomena) these are discovered through two transcendental critiques of philosophic thought, and are then explored. In the light of this study specific humanistic philosophies are investigated critically in part 2, and an exposition of Dooyeweerd's philosophy of the cosmonomic idea is given in the final section, part 3. Dooyeweerd later tells us that in the introduction he argues that philosophical thought is not possible without an a priori starting point which transcends the limits of philosophic thought (p.22f). He calls his first transcendental critique the way from above; starting from the position that it is the nature of philosophy to be directed to the totality of meaning, and to the selfhood, and then we come to the problem of the Archimedian point, and to that of the origin. (p.34).
Theoretical Thought: Analysis and the Modal Aspects
Philosophic thought is a specific type of theoretical thought. Thus Dooyeweerd begins his study with an examination of the latter.
Theoretical thought is thought which subjects the reality given to us in experience to an analysis. During this process reality appears to spilt up into certain fundamental aspects. In his theoretical thought Dooyeweerd believes that he has explicitly distinguished 15 aspects of reality, as analysed:
These are modalities; they are the ways things can be. We note that the human ego functions in every aspect.
The aspects have an inner coherence, and this inter-modal coherence is expressed in each aspect such that every one of them refers to all the others. For example, the aspect of psychical feeling refers to the analytical-logical aspect in the feeling of logical (in)correctness.
The Selfhood and the Totality of Meaning
The human selfhood is not merely the coherence of its modal functions. Rather it is a totality which transcends this coherence, which is merely an expression of the selfhood's totality. I am "the central point of reference and the deeper unity above all [the] modal diversity of the different aspects of my temporal existence".
Likewise, the inter-modal coherence expresses a central totality which transcends it. This universal characteristic of referring and expressing, which accords with reality having a dependent non-self-sufficient nature, marks out reality as meaning.
"Meaning is the being of all that has been created and the nature even of our selfhood. It has a religious root and a divine origin". (p.4)
Philosophic Thought: Self-knowledge, the Origin, and the Archimedian Point
Philosophic thought is theoretic thought directed towards the totality of meaning of our cosmos; it is guided by this Idea. Hence self-knowledge is a key element of philosophy.
How is self-reflection possible if the ego transcends philosophical concepts? As long as we think of self-reflection as philosophical thought returning to itself we are left with the selfhood as the logical unity of thought. But rather it is the thinking ego, which has a logical function, which returns to itself and hence this return in thought transcends the limits of theoretical thought.
To view the totality of meaning of our cosmos we must transcend the speciality of meaning. The viewpoint from which we do this is called the Archimedian point of philosophy.
Since all meaning is dependent, the view of the totality of meaning requires a view of the origin of the totality, and of the self-sufficient origin of all speciality of meaning. Thus philosophic thought is directed genetically towards the origin, and this direction to and from the origin is a central law for philosophical thought.
Summary
Theoretical thought appears to split up reality into fundamental aspects. These basic modalities of meaning are found to refer to each other, and their coherence refers to and expresses a transcendent totality of meaning, the Idea of which ought to guide philosophy. The human selfhood expresses itself through its functions in each aspect, but transcends the coherence of its functions. This universal characteristic of referring and expressing, which shows reality as being non-self-sufficient, marks reality as meaning. To view the totality of meaning the philosopher must have an Archimedian point which transcends the diversity of meaning, and must gain self-knowledge, and knowledge of the self-sufficient Origin of the totality and speciality of meaning.
Topics for Further Study
Discussion Questions