QUARTIER GÉNÉRAL - Guerre en Iran, au 4e jour après l'offensive israélo-américaine (BFMTV 3 mars 2026)

DOOYEWEERD: NORMS AND NORMATIVITY

Pieter de Hooch: Courtyard of a House in Delft (1658)

DOOYEWEERD:

NORMS AND NORMATIVITY

No doubt there occur female feelings in men, and male feelings in women. But this cannot be established without a standard for male and female feeling.

To point out effeminacy in a man’s emotional life, implies a normative structural principle lying at the foundation of this statement.

The whole social reality as such, what we call social facts, can only be ascertained by the application of norms and lines of responsibility. For example, if I say that there is a marriage between A and B, then I undoubtedly have a social relationship in view, which also has its juridical aspect. But it is a real social relationship. It is a social fact that this is a marriage. But I cannot establish that fact without the application of norms. How else would I be able to distinguish marriage from concubinage or from a relationship of free love? And so on.”

Actually, whenever one speaks of the contrast between “historical” and “unhistorical” and calls unhistorical action “reactionary,” one accepts the existence of truly historical norms. When one characterizes a certain political trend as “reactionary” one makes a historical value judgment that presupposes the application of a norm for historical development.

The contrast between historical and unhistorical action refers back to the opposition found in the logical aspect of reality between what agrees with the norm for thought and what conflicts with this norm. If a person contradicts himself in a logical argument, we accuse him of arguing illogically. The logical/illogical contrast presupposes that our thought function is placed under logical norms that can be transgressed. 

Among the various aspects of reality the aspect of logical distinction is the first that displays a contrast between what ought to be and what ought not to be. The divine ordinances or laws for all subsequent aspects are normative in character. Norms are standards of evaluation, and as such they can be employed only by creatures who, endowed with a logical function, are capable of rational distinction.

A norm exists only for creatures who are responsible for their own behaviour and who are accountable for conduct that transgresses norms. Our ability to give account in this way is possible only on the basis of the faculty of logical judgment. Surely, no one would hold a sick plant or animal responsible for the abnormal functioning of its organism. No one would blame it for its sickness. Yet, we do hold someone accountable for arguing illogically. 

Accountability is also at stake when we blame a political movement for its reactionary attitude toward historical development, or when we say of someone that he behaves antisocially, expresses himself ungrammatically, runs his business uneconomically, writes poor poetry, acts unjustly, conducts himself immorally, or lives in unbelief.

(Herman Dooyeweerd, from ‘A New Critique of Theoretical Thought’, & ‘Roots of Western Culture’)

RÉPLIQUES par Alain Finkielkraut - la République de Weimar (France Culture - Radio France podcast - 21 juin 2025)

Répliques - par : Alain Finkielkraut - 

Au lendemain de la Première Guerre mondiale, la République de Weimar était proclamée et l'Allemagne montrait au monde son autre visage. Les défilés nazis y mirent fin : que s'est-il passé pour que Hitler arrivât au pouvoir ? - réalisation : François Caunac - invités : Johann Chapoutot Historien, professeur à l’Université Paris-Sorbonne et chroniqueur pour le journal Libération.

La République de Weimar fut le nom donné par les historiens au régime politique en place en Allemagne de 1918 à 1933. Au lendemain de la Première Guerre mondiale, c'est à Weimar que siégea l'Assemblée qui avait pour mission de dresser le cadre constitutionnel de la République allemande. Comme l'écrit Jean-Paul Bled dans La République de Weimar, ce choix a "une valeur symbolique forte puisqu'il rattache la jeune République à la tradition humaniste de Goethe et de Schiller".

L'Allemagne avait retrouvé sa place, tout semblait bien parti, mais ce tout ne dura que 14 années. La tradition humaniste de Goethe et de Schiller n'aura pas fait le poids devant Hitler. Le dénouement tragique avec l'arrivée d'Hitler au pouvoir était-il inévitable ? Qui furent les premiers irresponsables ? Pouvait-on prévoir Hitler ?Quelles leçons tirer de Weimar ? Quels liens existe-t-il entre 1932 et 2025 ? 

Alain Finkielkraut reçoit, pour répondre à ces questions, Johann Chapoutot, historien spécialiste d'histoire contemporaine, du nazisme et de l'Allemagne, auteur de Les irresponsables, Qui a porté Hitler au pouvoir ?

Professor Robert Black KC at Scottish Sovereignty Research Group Conference: ‘1707 Treaty of Union - For England Nothing Changed, For Scotland Everything Changed’ (17 May 2025)

RÉPLIQUES - par : Alain Finkielkraut : Qui sont les nouveaux maîtres du monde et qu'ont-ils à nous apprendre ? Invité : Giuliano da Empoli (17 mai 2025)

Répliques - par : Alain Finkielkraut - Qui sont ces prédateurs d'aujourd'hui qui ont pour orgueil commun de penser que leur moment est arrivé ? - réalisation : Alexandra Malka - invité : Giuliano da Empoli Essayiste, romancier et ancien conseiller politique de Matteo Renzi.

 FRANCE CULTURE : ALAIN FINKIELKRAUT : RÉPLIQUES

Scottish Sovereignty Research Group Conference (17 May 2025)

(Session Starts at 25.00 mins into YouTube. Activating subtitles may be useful.)

ATTENTION DRAWN PARTICULARLY TO DEFINITIVE KEYNOTE SPEECH BY PROFESSOR ROBERT BLACK KC STARTING AT 1.46.35

Scottish Sovereignty Research Group

Also of interest:

Scotland as Colony - a way forward…

Grace in Common podcast: Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism - Lecture 5, Calvinism and Art

GRACE IN COMMON

James Eglinton, Cory Brock, Marinus de Jong, and Gray Sutanto. Four theologians and friends from four different countries talk Neo-Calvinism, theology, religion, public faith, culture, and more.

In this episode, Marinus, Gray, and James continue a series reviewing Abraham Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism. This week, they discuss Lecture 5 on Calvinism and Art.

Sources mentioned in this episode:

Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism: Six Lectures Delivered at Princeton University [in 1898] (Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 2002).

Gavin Ortlund, Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't: The Beauty of Christian Theism (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2021).

Robert Covolo, "Arts," in T&T Clark Handbook of Neo-Calvinism, ed. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto and Cory Brock, 1st ed. (Bloomsbury Publishing PIc, 2024), 487-97.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/tt-clark-handbook-of-neocalvinism-9780567698094/

Robert Covolo, Fashion Theology (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2020).

Hans Rookmaaker, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, Crossway print (Wheaton, III: Crossway Books, 1994).

Roger D. Henderson, The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective, 1st ed (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2024).