95
Theses on Herman Dooyeweerd
by J.
Glenn Friesen
Philosophy gives an account of our experience
1. Philosophy does
not begin with rational propositions or presuppositions, but rather with our
experience. Dooyeweerd begins A New
Critique of Theoretical Thought
by contrasting the continuity of our pre-theoretical experience with the way
that theoretical experience splits apart this continuity. He says later, “The apriori structure of reality can only be known by experience. But
this is not experience as it is conceived by immanence-philosophy.” Human experience is not
limited to our temporal functions of consciousness. Our experience is not an ‘Erlebnis’ of mere psychical feelings
and sensations, but rather “a conscious enstatic ‘Hineinleben.’”—the experience of our
supratemporal selfhood entering into and living within all aspects of temporal
reality.
2. Our theoretical
Ideas (whether in philosophy, theology, or in any science) “give an account of” our pre-theoretical
experience. Dooyeweerd distinguishes between subjective theoretical
propositions [vooronderstellingen]
and the supra-theoretical ontical presuppositions on which such propositions
are based [de vooronderstelde —“that which is presupposed”]. In other words, our world
and its structure are given and not constructed.
Dooyeweerd opposes what is “given” in pre-theoretical experience with the product of
theoretical analysis in the Gegenstand-relation.
Theoretical Ideas are not themselves the ontical conditions, the ‘ontic a prioris’ of which Ideas give an account. We must not confuse the
ontical with the epistemological.
3. Our philosophical
Ideas point towards the ontical conditions that make both pre-theoretical and
theoretical experience possible; these ontical conditions are “infinitely more than Idea”. This is what Dooyeweerd means by calling his philosophy ‘transcendental’. Ideas relate the diversity of
the modal aspects to their central and radical unity and to an Origin. By so
anticipating the concentric identity of our temporal and supratemporal
experience, Ideas approximate what cannot be comprehended in a concept. The
theoretical Idea is always a philosophical Idea of the totality and unity of
the modal aspects, which have been split apart in theory. In contrast, the
theoretical concept is oriented to distinguishing the various aspects.
The horizons of our experience
4. There are four
dimensions or horizons of our experience: (1) the religious or supratemporal
horizon, (2) the temporal horizon of cosmic time, (3) the modal horizon of the
temporal aspects, and (4) the plastic horizon of individuality structures.
The religious (supratemporal) horizon
5. By religious (i.e.
supratemporal) self-reflection, we obtain “cosmic consciousness” of our supratemporal selfhood and its relation to the
temporal world, including our temporal body. Our supratemporal selfhood
recognizes the modal functions as “our own in cosmic time”. Modern thought often
dogmatically rejects the possibility of religious self-reflection because it
wrongly believes in the autonomy of theoretical thought. But self-reflection is
the only way to discover the true starting-point of theoretical thought, and
all human experience is rooted in the transcendent unity of self-consciousness.
This self-knowledge cannot be
proved theoretically, since it exceeds the limits of theoretical thought and is
rooted in the heart, the religious center of our existence. Furthermore, this
central self-knowledge can only be the result of the Word-revelation of God
operating in our heart. Our selfhood, as the religious concentration point of our entire temporal
existence) stands in immediate relationship to God as the absolute origin of
all things. Religion is immediately related to the absolute origin.
Download PDF (31 pages) HERE.
Current
Reformational Philosophy and the “95 Theses on Herman Dooyeweerd”
By J.
Glenn Friesen © 2007
How does current
reformational philosophy differ from the “95
Theses on Herman Dooyeweerd"? Most reformational philosophers today do not follow the
philosophy of Dooyeweerd, but rather of Vollenhoven. Their philosophy is often
an echo of objections against Dooyeweerd made by Vollenhoven. Over time,
despite the lip service that is given to Dooyeweerd people seem to have
forgotten what he actually said. They have interpreted him in terms of these
echoes of other philosophers. In my article “Dooyeweerd versus Vollenhoven:The religious dialectic within reformational philosophy” (PDF), Philosophia Reformata
70 (2005) 102-132, I showed the differences between Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven.
These differences are often obscured because the two philosophers use similar
terminology in very different ways. The “95 Theses” attempts to describe Dooyeweerd’s philosophy on its own, when
not interpreted by Vollenhoven. And of course, the very title calls for a
reformation of reformational philosophy to return to Dooyeweerd's original vision . In my article “The Religious Dialectic Revisited” (2006) (PDF),
I tried to show that because reformational philosophy is really immanence
philosophy, there is a religious dialectic within it and a synthesis with
modernism. I looked at several reformational philosophers, and I suggested a
path forwards.
In this summary, I begin with Vollenhoven, and then list some other reformational
philosophers who have echoed his
ideas in opposition to Dooyeweerd. After that, I show the differences in
the philosophy of some analytic reformational philosophers, as well as some
postmodern reformationals. I conclude by listing ideas of Dooyeweerd that
seem to have been ignored by reformationals, but which are included in the “95 Theses.” Of course, this summary does
not include or even list all reformational philosophers. It is incomplete. But
I think it is sufficient to show that almost every one of the 95 Theses has
either been rejected by reformational philosophy, or has been ignored by it. I
hope that the interrelatedness of the Theses will also show that reformational
philosophers who believe that they are rejecting only one part of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy have often ended
up rejecting most or all of it, since one idea depends on the others.
Download PDF (42 pages) HERE.
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