HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Herman Dooyeweerd (7 October 1894, Amsterdam – 12 February 1977, Amsterdam) was a professor of law and
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam from 1926 to 1965. He was also a philosopher and principal founder of
Reformational philosophy Reformational philosophy of society is a neo-Calvinistic movement pioneered by Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven that seeks to develop philosophical thought in a Reformed Christian direction. It is related to the idea of a politi ...
with Dirk Vollenhoven, a significant development within the Neocalvinist (or Kuyperian) school of thought. Dooyeweerd made several contributions to philosophy and other academic disciplines concerning the nature of diversity and coherence in everyday experience, the transcendental conditions for theoretical thought, the relationship between religion, philosophy, and scientific theory, and an understanding of meaning, being, time and self. Dooyeweerd is most famous for his suite of fifteen aspects (or 'modalities', 'modal aspects', or 'modal law-spheres'), which are distinct ways in which reality exists, has meaning, is experienced, and occurs. This suite of aspects is finding application in practical analysis, research and teaching in such diverse fields as built environment, sustainability, agriculture, business, information systems and development. Danie Strauss, the editor of Dooyeweerd's Collected Works, has provided a systematic look at Dooyeweerd's philosoph
here


Dooyeweerd’s critiques of philosophy

Dooyeweerd made both immanent and transcendental critiques of Western philosophy, following the traditions of
Continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...
. In his immanent critique, he sought to understand each philosophic thinker's work or each tradition from the inside, and uncover, in its own terms, its basic presuppositions, to reveal deep problems. By such immanent critique of philosophic thinkers from the pre-Socratic Greeks onwards through to the middle of the twentieth century (including mediaeval period, into the modern periods), Dooyeweerd claimed to have demonstrated that theoretical thinking has always been based on presuppositions of a religious nature, which he called ''ground motives''. A ground motive is a spiritual driving force that impels each thinker to interpret reality under its influence. Dooyeweerd identified four major ground-motives of Western thought, three of them dualistic in nature: # the Form-Matter divide of Greek thought # the Creation-Fall-Redemption motive of Biblical (Hebrew, Semitic) thought # the Nature-Grace divide of mediaeval, Scholastic thought # the Nature-Freedom divide of humanistic, Enlightenment thought This means that theoretical thought ''never has been'' neutral or autonomous of the thinker. However, Dooyeweerd remained unsatisfied "with an argument that shows that in fact philosophy always has been influenced by religious convictions". Rather, "He wants to show that it cannot be otherwise, because it is part of the nature of philosophy or theoretical thought." This led Dooyeweerd to undertake a transcendental critique of theoretical thought, of the kind
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
pioneered. Whereas Kant and Husserl sought the conditions that make theoretical ''thinking'' possible, they still presupposed that a theoretical ''attitude'' is possible. Dooyeweerd sought to understand the conditions that make a ''theoretical attitude'' possible, and argued that all theoretical thought takes place with reference to an "Origin of Meaning", which is a ground-motive to which we adhere extra-rationally. This means that theoretical thought ''never can be'' neutral or autonomous of the thinker. From this, Dooyeweerd argued that all "good" philosophy addresses three fundamental parts to an idea: # world # coherence of rationalities # origin of meaning This, he proposed, can enable disparate theoretical and philosophical approaches to enter into discourse with each other, as long as each thinker openly admits their own ground-motive. Dooyeweerd, accordingly, made very explicit his own grounding in Creation-Fall-Redemption, with a
neo-Calvinist Neo-Calvinism, a form of Dutch Calvinism, is a theological movement initiated by the theologian and former Dutch prime minister Abraham Kuyper. James Bratt has identified a number of different types of Dutch Calvinism: The Seceders, split into ...
flavour and a debt to
Abraham Kuyper Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which upo ...
.


Dooyeweerd's cosmonomic philosophy

Dooyeweerd's cosmonomic philosophy is different from most extant philosophy in at least three ways, which intertwine: First, it takes seriously the pre-theoretical attitude of thought, as a starting point from which to begin to understand what makes theoretical thought possible. Most other philosophical thinking begins by presupposing a theoretical attitude and either ignores everyday experience or attempts to explain it theoretically, either way presupposing the possibility of theoretical thought as a way to knowledge. In making the possibility of theoretical thought a philosophical problem to address, Dooyeweerd went deeper and further than
Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...
,
Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...
and
Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
and others. Second, it is rooted in different presuppositions (' ground motives') about the nature of reality, which are religious in nature. Whereas
Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empir ...
is rooted in the Form/Matter divide, Scholastic thinking of medieval Christianity in the Nature/Grace divide, and Humanistic philosophy in the Nature/Freedom divide, Dooyeweerd began from the Biblical idea of Creation Fall and Redemption. He may be said to have explored the philosophical (rather than theological) implications of this idea. He called his philosophy '
Christian philosophy Christian philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Christians, or in relation to the religion of Christianity. Christian philosophy emerged with the aim of reconciling science and faith, starting from natural rational explanations wit ...
', though what usually claims that label is of a Scholastic nature and very different. Third, it posits that ''Meaning'' is more fundamental than Being or Process. Dooyeweerd expressed it: Meaningfulness originates from the Creator (God) rather than from sovereign human attribution. All things, not just those linked with humanity, are meaningful. Strictly, Dooyeweerd says, things ''are'', rather than ''have'', Meaning. Thus, Meaning is like an ocean in which we swim, an enabler of all our existence and functioning, rather than a property we attribute to things or words.


Diversity of science

This has implications for science. Science – whether mathematical, natural, human or social sciences - is seen as the abstracting of certain aspects for study. For example, even though a lawyer and a biologist might study the same things (say, fingerprints), they are interested in different aspects. They are looking at the meaning of a thing with different focus, though equally concerned with what is real. Perceptions of reality through this kind of scientific attitude, selecting one aspect as distinct from others for study, will necessarily be governed by fundamental assumptions about how these various kinds of meaning are related to one another in a coherent whole, belonging within the total range of all experiences. Likewise, in everyday life, we can be aware of distinct aspects, though most of the time we function in them tacitly.


Aspects

The positing of meaning as fundamental, and the priority given to our pre-theoretical experience of diverse meaning, prompts the thinker to ask, what ways are there of being meaningful, which cannot be reduced to each other? What different aspects are there of things? He delineated fifteen, which are not mere categories, but modalities (ways of being, functioning, etc.): * Quantitative aspect: amount * Spatial aspect: continuous extension * Kinematic aspect: flowing movement * Physical aspect: energy, matter * Biotic/Organic aspect: life functions, self-maintenance * Sensitive/Psychic aspect: feeling and response * Analytical aspect: distinction, conceptualization * Formative aspect: formative power, achievement, technology, technique * Lingual aspect: symbolic communication * Social aspect: social interaction * Economic aspect: frugal use of resources * Aesthetic aspect: harmony, surprise, fun * Juridical aspect: due (rights, responsibility) * Ethical aspect: self-giving love * Pistic aspect: faith, vision, commitment, belief Dooyeweerd claimed that since the discovery of these is addressed by our theoretical functioning, which is fallible, no suite of aspects, including his own, can "lay claim to material completion".


Implications of the aspects

Briefly, aspects are ways of being meaningful and are the 'law side' of created reality. All that occurs does so by 'answering to' the laws of each aspect (i.e. being subject to their laws). e.g. physical waves or particles occur by the laws of the physical aspect, poetry occurs by the laws of the aesthetic aspect. Thus, each aspect or 'law sphere' may be seen as defining a distinct kind of possibility. Earlier aspects are determinative; later ones are normative. Human beings function as subject in or to all aspects, animals as subject up to the sensitive aspect, plants up to the biotic, and non-living things up to the physical. As you are reading this, you are functioning lingually by understanding it, analytically by conceptualizing, sensitively by seeing or hearing, etc. In fact, all our functioning is multi-aspectual, though some aspects might be latent. Things exist by reference to each aspect. For example, a car exists physically as a load of steel, plastic, etc., kinematically as a mode of transport, socially as a status symbol, economically as a dent in our finances, aesthetically as a thing of beauty, biotically as a polluter, pistically as an idol, and so on. The being of things is multi-aspectual in principle. Knowledge may be seen as multi-aspectual knowing. For example, analytical knowing gives categories and theories, formative knowing gives skills, lingual knowing gives 'bodies of knowledge' as found in libraries, and so on. Each aspect defines a different rationality. In this way, Dooyeweerd echoes Winch and Habermas, though with more precision.


Works and legacy

Dooyeweerd attempted to provide a philosophy which accounted for not only the differences in non-human reality, but also, between one thinker and another. Following
Abraham Kuyper Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which upo ...
, and other, earlier Neo-Calvinists, Dooyeweerd attempted to describe reality as a creation of God, which has its meaning from God. This God-given meaning is displayed in all of the aspects of temporal reality – which has implications for science. For example, even though a lawyer and a biologist might study the same things (say, fingerprints), they are interested in different aspects. They are looking at the meaning of a thing with different focus, though equally concerned with what is real. Perceptions of reality through this kind of scientific attitude, selecting one aspect as distinct from others for study, will necessarily be governed by fundamental assumptions about how these various kinds of meaning are related to one another in a coherent whole, belonging within the total range of all experiences. Dooyeweerd argued that this showed the need for a consistent and radically
Christian philosophy Christian philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Christians, or in relation to the religion of Christianity. Christian philosophy emerged with the aim of reconciling science and faith, starting from natural rational explanations wit ...
which he sought to provide. Furthermore, he attempted to show that even the imaginations of men are part of that same created reality, and even where misguided they cannot escape being subject to the rule of God exposed by the Christian revelation. Dooyeweerd self-consciously allowed his
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
perspective to guide his understanding, but in a philosophical rather than a theological mode of thought. He believed that this permitted the philosopher to gain insight into the principle by which diversity of meaning is held together as a unity, as he directs his thought toward the origin of things, which is God, and God's purpose for making things, which is found in Christ. This basic religious orientation should affect the way that the Christian understands things. In contrast to a dualistic type of
religious ground motive A religious ground motive (RGM) is a concept in the reformational philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd. In his book ''Roots of Western Culture'' Dooyeweerd identified four great frameworks or value-systems that have determined human interpretations of re ...
, Dooyeweerd suggested that the Christian's basic orientation to the world ought to be derived not from human speculation, but from God's revealed purposes: Creation, the Fall into sin, and Redemption in Christ. This Christian ''religious ground motive'' is a fundamentally different posture toward things, compared to say, the "Form/Matter" scheme of the Greeks, the "Nature/Grace" synthesis of Medieval Christianity, or the "Nature/Freedom" approach of the Enlightenment, all of which are orientations divided against themselves by their reliance upon two contradictory principles. While the Christian religious view of things as Created, Fallen and being Redeemed has often been blended with speculative and dualistic schemes, it has never really become fully identified with them, so that there is historical continuity in Christian thought despite the fact that it has undergone numerous significant shifts, in Dooyeweerd's view. But the fact that they are capable of being blended convincingly exposes the transcendental rules to which both false and true theories are subject. A
religious ground motive A religious ground motive (RGM) is a concept in the reformational philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd. In his book ''Roots of Western Culture'' Dooyeweerd identified four great frameworks or value-systems that have determined human interpretations of re ...
is a spiritual driving force that impels each thinker to interpret reality under its influence. Dooyeweerd wrote that, in the case of thinkers who presume that human thought is autonomous, who operate by the dictum that it does not matter whether God exists or not, such a thinker's basic commitment to autonomous thought forces him to pick out some aspect of the creation as the origin of all meaning. In doing so, the supposedly autonomous thinker is made captive to a kind of idol of his own making, which bends his understanding to conform to its dictates, according to Dooyeweerd. Although he self-consciously exposes the religious nature of his philosophy, Dooyeweerd suggests that in fact, all thought is inescapably religious in character. This religious stamp is disguised when the supposed origin of meaning, toward which various thinkers direct their thought, is not called God, but is rather said to be some aspect of creation. This, he suggests, explains why humanistic science will produce bitterly conflicting ideologies. It helps to locate the "antithesis", the source of irreducible differences, between various perspectives. The "antithesis" must be accounted for as a foundational issue, in any complete philosophy, and this antithesis is religious in nature, according to Dooyeweerd. Borrowing language and concepts from a wide variety of philosophical schools, especially
Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...
, the
Marburg school In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thin ...
of neo-
Kantianism Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...
,
Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( , ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science. Aft ...
's Philosophy of Symbolic Forms—and, as some contend,
Franz Xaver von Baader Franz von Baader (27 March 1765 – 23 May 1841), born Benedikt Franz Xaver Baader, was a German Catholic philosopher, theologian, physician, and mining engineer. Resisting the empiricism of his day, he denounced most Western philosophy s ...
, Dooyeweerd builds on this foundation of a supposed "antithesis" to make distinctions between one kind of thinking and another, theorizing that diverse kinds of thinking disclose diverse kinds of meaning, and that this meaning corresponds in some way to the actual state of affairs. Dooyeweerd developed an anti-reductionist
ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
of "modal aspects", concerning diverse kinds of meaning which are disclosed in the analysis of every existent thing. He considered such modes to be irreducible to each other and yet indissolubly linked. Dooyeweerd at first suggested that there were 14 modes but later postulated 15. The indissoluble coherence of these modal aspects is evinced through their analogical relationship to one another, and finally in their concentration in the central religious selfhood which has a direct relationship to its origin: God. The majority of Dooyeweerd's published articles and multi-volume works originally appeared only in Dutch. During his lifetime efforts were already underway to make his work available to English-speakers. Translation of Dooyeweerd's writing has continued since 1994 under the oversight of the Dooyeweerd Centre (see link below). To date, thirteen books have been published in English, including his ''
magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
'', ''De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee'' (1935–1936), which was revised and expanded in English as ''A New Critique of Theoretical Thought'' (1953–1958). Dooyeweerd's influence has continued through the Association for
Reformational Philosophy Reformational philosophy of society is a neo-Calvinistic movement pioneered by Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven that seeks to develop philosophical thought in a Reformed Christian direction. It is related to the idea of a politi ...
and its journal ''
Philosophia Reformata ''Philosophia Reformata'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of the Association for Reformational Philosophy, which was founded in 1935. Formerly published by the Association, as of 2015 the journal is published by Brill Publishers. The e ...
'' which he and Vollenhoven founded in 1932. The title of the journal is something of an arcane philosophical joke, which repristinates and shifts the meaning of the title from a 1622 book, authored by Johann Daniel Mylius, ''Philosophia Reformata'', a compendium of alchemy, then regarded by some as a science. There are also a number of institutions around the world that draw their inspiration from Dooyeweerd's philosophy. Dooyeweerd became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1948. In a commemoration editorial appearing in the newspaper ''
Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). ''Tr ...
'' on 6 October 1964 upon the occasion of Dooyeweerd's 70th birthday, G.E. Langemeijer, chairman of the
Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
, professor at the
University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
, and appellate attorney general, lauded Dooyeweerd as "... the most original philosopher Holland has ever produced, even
Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...
not excepted."


Bibliography


Multi-volume publications

* . **''Volume II: The General Theory of the Modal Spheres'' **''Volume III: The Structure of Individuality of Temporal Reality'' **''Volume IV: Index of Subject and Authors'' (compiled by H. de Jongste) *''Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy'' **''Volume I: The Greek Prelude'' *''Encyclopedia of the Science of Law'' **''Volume 1: Introduction''


Collected essays, critiques, and compilations

*''Christian Philosophy and the Meaning of History'' *''Essays in Legal, Social, and Political Philosophy'' *''Roots of Western Culture'' *''In The Twilight of Western Thought'' *''Political Philosophy'' *''Contours of a Christian Philosophy; An Introduction to Herman Dooyeweerd's Thought


Notes


See also

Posthumanism#Philosophical posthumanism


References


Studies

* . * . A special issue of the journal Axiomathes was devoted to the subject of "Philosophy and Science in the Thought of Herman Dooyeweerd". * * * * * * *


Introductions to Dooyeweerd's Thought

* * *Kalsbeek, L. (1976). ''Contours of a Christian Philosophy: An Introduction to Herman Dooyeweerd's Thought'', trans. Bernard Zylstra and Josina Zylstra. Toronto: Wedge Publishing Foundation. ** Originally published in Dutch as *Marcel, Pierre-Charles (2013). ''The Transcendental Critique of Theoretical Thought'', trans. Colin Wright. Volume 1 of ''The Christian Philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd''. Aalten, Netherlands: Wordbridge Publishing. *Marcel, Pierre-Charles (2013). ''The General Theory of the Law-Spheres'', trans. Colin Wright. Volume 2 of ''The Christian Philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd''. Aalten, Netherlands: Wordbridge Publishing. *Spier, J.M. (1954). ''An Introduction to Christian Philosophy'', trans. David H. Freeman. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company. **Originally published in Dutch as *Strauss, D.F.M. (2015)
Herman Dooyeweerd's Philosophy
' **Provides a more extensive systematic orientation in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy. * *


Influences and Development

* * **One of the most controversial articles in the literature on Dooyeweerd's intellectual development, Friesen argues that twenty-five key ideas in Dooyeweerd's writings "can already be found in the nineteenth century German philosopher, Franz von Baader". * * * * . **One of the first responses to Friesen (2003), Strauss argues that the idea "there is any ''direct'' influence on his ooyeweerd'sthought from Von Baader can not be substantiated on the basis of the available sources even though it is not unlikely that he might have been aware of the existence of Von Baader". * , translated by Herbert Donald Morton and Harry Van Dyke as . * Wolters, Albert, "The Intellectual Milieu of Herman Dooyeweerd", in .


External links


Herman Dooyeweerd's Collected Works online
* . * . * . * . * . Koyzis' reworking of Dooyeweerd's modal scale, and Spanish translation of his Introductory Essay to ''Political Philosophy'' (2004 publication of the ''Collected Works of Herman Dooyeweerd''). * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Dooyeweerd, Herman 1894 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Dutch philosophers 20th-century Dutch writers Calvinist and Reformed philosophers Continental philosophers Critics of atheism Dutch Christian writers Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam faculty Writers from Amsterdam