Dr. J. Glenn Friesen

Studies relating to Herman Dooyeweerd Linked Glossary of Terms

© J. Glenn Friesen 2003, 2004

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.)

When turn away from our true Origin, we seek our origin by absolutizing or idolizing some aspect or aspects of temporal reality. When we seek totality within an aspect of temporal reality, this is the source of the many -isms in philosophy.

In postmodernism, there is a reaction against any seeking of totality. The preference is to emphasize diversity, a preference for fragmentation over unity.

The consequence of abandoning a search for totality is a polytheism. This has appeared in the psychology of James Hillman. He rejects C.G. Jung's unified view of the self, and instead proposes a new polytheistic way of regarding the self. See Robert W. Brockway: "New Polytheism and James Hillman's Archetypal Psychology," (Journal of Dharma, 1987, vol. 12)

Dooyeweerd regarded polytheism as a lower stage of cultural development than a belief in polytheism (NC II, 324).

Revised Dec 27/04