Dr. J. Glenn Friesen

Studies relating to
Herman Dooyeweerd

Linked Glossary of Terms

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Dooyeweerd
Linked Glossary
List of Notes

De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee Volume I
Foreword
Introduction
Ground-Idea
Foundation
Law-Idea
Prism of Cosmic Time
Law and Subject
Philosophy/Worldview

De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee Volume II
The Gegenstand
Dis-stasis/ Synthesis
Intuition and Time
Conceptual Limits
Horizon and Levels
God, Self and Cosmos

© J. Glenn Friesen 2003-2007

Linked Glossary of Terms
(references to De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee, unless indicated. See concordance for correlation with pages in the New Critique. The concordance is in pdf format.)

Arché

I, 10-11, 17, 19, 23-25, 29-31, 33, 45, 53-54, 57, 64, 66-68, 69 (Being of the Arché), 74 -75(Being of the Arché), 77, 132

III, Foreword

NC I, 8 (view of totaltiy is not possible without a view of the origin or arché), 11 (arché of our selfhood; arché transcends all meaning), 13, 34.

Origin

I, 6, 10, 13, 24, 30, 39, 59 (of law), 62, 67, 76, 129, 131
II, 409

NC I, 4 (meaning has a divine origin), 9 (genuine philosophy is thought directed to the origin), 10 (true Origin is absolute and self-sufficient), 11 (philospohic thought attains the Origin only after questions cease to be meaningful; tendency toward the origin), 55 (knowledge of the origin is rooted in the heart), 68-113, 506-508, 548

The selfhood stands under a law of religious concentration, which makes it restlessly search for its own Origin and that of the whole cosmos. “Het dilemma voor het christelijk wijsgeerig denken en het critisch karakter van de Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee,” Philosophia Reformata 1 (1936), 1-16, at 14.

Het transcendentale critiek van het wijsgeerig denken,” Philosophia Reformata 6 (1941), 1-20, at 15 Just as the cosmic, ontical coherence of meaning refers beyond itself to the Archimedean point as concentration point of modal diversity, so the Archimedean point, from which we view the modal aspects in a a view of meaning-totality, refers beyond itself to the Origin of all meaning which indeed is absolute and self-sufficient. Self-consciousness is unbreakably bound with consciousness of our Origin.

The Arché is our Origin. This is our origin in an ontological sense, as opposed to the Archimedean point, which is our origin in an epistemological sense. Rationalistic metaphysics maintained the idea of God as our Arché, but believed that we could begin with the autonomy of thought. Later humanistic metaphysics combined thought into both the Arché and the Archimedean Point. According to humanistic metaphysics, we ourselves create our own reality by constructing the chaotic mass of sensory impressions.

The Idea of the Arché is one of three transcendental Ideas within each Ground-Motive:

(1) our Idea of the integral coherence of meaning in cosmic time,

(2) the Idea of the ultimate unity of human selfhood and

(3) that of the absolute Origin (Urwesen).(I, 89; NC I:68-113, 506-508)

There is an inherent tendency within temporal created reality towards the Origin. If we do not accept the True Origin (God) we make up our own origin by absolutizing an aspect of temporal reality.

In the Foreword to Vol. III of the WdW, Dooyeweerd says that the WdW is characterized not by the deisre for originality [oorspronkelijkheids-], but for the Origin [Oorsprongszucht]. That Foreword does not appear in the NC.

Baader says that we must either freely accept being subjected to God's law, or else we will attempt to set up our own law in an autonomous way. Such a person seeks the Origin in his or her own image, and not in the image of God (Zeit, 31).

Revised Setp 26/07