Articulating (ultimate) commitments: historical, factual and systematic considerations
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Date
2012
Authors
Strauss, D. F. M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State
Abstract
Acknowledging that religion forms a constitutive part of human life is recently
confirmed by Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in Turkey, from which it appears
that religion is basic to all the other cultural developments within human society.
This opened the way to illustrate the interplay between ultimate commitments and
theoretical articulations with reference to the a priori commitment to gradualism
(continuous change) as found in the thought of Darwin and neo-Darwinism.
Subsequently a related brief analysis is given of the ultimate commitment
motivating the development of Greek philosophy and Medieval philosophy
and theology. Distinguishing between conceptual knowledge and concepttranscending
knowledge (concept and idea) brought the views of Plotinus,
Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Dengerink and Tillich into the discussion. Negative
theology is used to show how ontic conditions play a role in the articulation
of ultimate commitments. The long-standing commitment to reason, embodied
in the identification of thought and being, resulted in what the physicist, Carl
Friedrich von Weizsäcker, calls faith in science which according to him is the
governing religion of our time. The philosophy of science of the 20th century
acknowledges that scholarly activities are co-conditioned both by theoretical
commitments and supra-theoretical ultimate commitments – the central dimension
of human existence in which the antithesis between Christian and non-Christian
convictions is seated. Wolters emphasizes that all aspects of created life and reality
are in principle equally good, and all are in principle equally subject to perversion
and renewal. The aim of this article is to argue that scholarly endeavours inevitably
entail theoretical commitments (paradigms) which are rooted in ultimate
commitments. It opposes the traditional (positivistic) view that intellectual
pursuits are “objective” and “neutral”.
Description
Keywords
Theoretical commitment, Ultimate commitment, Basic motive, Science ideal, Continuity postulate (“gradualism”)
Citation
Strauss, D. F. M. (2012). Articulating (ultimate) commitments: historical, factual and systematic considerations. Acta Theologica, 32(2), 203-226.