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Overview of Ways of Using Dooyeweerdian Philosophy

This page explains in general terms how various portions of Dooyeweerd's philosophy may be used. Page still being written. Will link to specific example later on.

Contents:

Using Dooyeweerd's aspects as categories
Using Dooyeweerd's aspects for evaluation
Using Dooyeweerd's aspects to understand
Using Dooyeweerd's aspects to construct or design
Using Dooyeweerd's aspectual notions of rationality and knowing
On aspectual analysis
Using Dooyeweerd's notion of qualifying aspect to understand, evaluate or guide a thing
Using Dooyeweerd's notion of enkapsis to understand relationships
Using Dooyeweerd's notion of ground-motives to understand worldviews, dialectics and conflicts

Using Dooyeweerd's aspects as categories

Since the aspects are spheres of meaning, each aspect provides a distinct way in which something can be meaningful. This makes categorization possible.

They can also be used to detect and resolve category errors.

Using Dooyeweerd's aspects for evaluation

Since the aspects are spheres of law most of them indicate distinct ways in which things can be good or bad, success or failure, beneficial or detrimental. (By 'things' we might mean objects, activities, repercussions, motives, people, organisations, situations, etc.) This provides a sophisticated way of making normative evaluations that copes with complexity. It has the advantage over most evaluation techniques of acknowledging that things may be good in some ways while at the same time being bad in others. For example, an information system or a business technique may be good economically but detrimental socially or ethically.

There are three 'levels' of aspectual evaluation.

Use the aspects as categories of normativity: ask about the thing, "Is this thing good or bad (beneficial or detrimental) in this aspect?" This is the simplest and most direct use, but has the danger that once we have found a good or bad in an aspect we are 'content' and probe no further. Thus we might overlook deeper normativity in aspects.
Use the aspects to help us formulate normative questions to ask about the thing, several questions in each aspect.
Use the aspects as spheres or areas in which normative discussion may take place.

More to write.

Using Dooyeweerd's aspects to understand

Since the aspects are ways in which things function, we may use them to understand a thing at multiple levels. More to write.

Using Dooyeweerd's aspects to construct or design

Since the aspects are spheres of law and distinct types of possibility, they may be used to help construct or design things - artifacts, organisations, plans, literature, computer games, plays, and so on.

For example, when we watched the film Gladiator, which had a computer-generated reconstruction of the Colosseum, on which we looked down, my wife remarked "Those crowds are wrong". It showed people dotted around at random - but in real crowds, people group together. While the design of the reconstruction was nearly perfect in the physical aspect, it was imperfect in the social aspect.

In really good films, computer games, etc. the designers have paid attention to every aspect, to get it right. If they don't one 'feels' something is 'not quite right'.

Using Dooyeweerd's aspectual notions of rationality and knowing

Since the aspects ==== more to write.

On aspectual analysis

See page outlining various types of aspectual analysis.

Using Dooyeweerd's notion of qualifying aspect to understand, evaluate or guide a thing

Using Dooyeweerd's notion of enkapsis to understand relationships

More to write. For example, correlative enkapsis can help us understand how we relate to society.

Using Dooyeweerd's notion of ground-motives to understand worldviews, dialectics and conflicts

Since the ground-motives are religious presuppositions about the nature of reality and of good and evil, they can throw light on the conflicts that occur. For example the conflict between modernism and postmodernism may be seen as an outworking of the nature-freedom ground-motive. More to write.

This page is part of a collection that discusses application of Herman Dooyeweerd's ideas, within The Dooyeweerd Pages, which explain, explore and discuss Dooyeweerd's interesting philosophy. Email questions or comments would be welcome.

Written on the Amiga and Protext.

Created: 13 May 2009 Last updated: 21 January 2016 link to categ.errors.