Abstract
This article is dedicated to Ponti Venter for his contribution to the historical roots and systematic implications of philosophical problems. A discussion with him about four decades ago prompted me to investigate the Greek roots of our distinction of thought and being. In the analysis below, a brief sketch was given of the initial identification of thought and being in the thought of Parmenides and the consequences it had for the rationalistic tradition since the Renaissance, particularly in connection with the view that the universe itself has a rational structure. Two options were pursued in our analysis of rationalism: (1) to contrast it with empiricism and (2) to relate it to universality and the problem of what is individual. By distinguishing between conceptual and concept-transcending knowledge, an alternative systematic characterisation of rationalism (and irrationalism) is proposed, namely that it absolutises conceptual knowledge (whilst irrationalism deifies concepttranscending knowledge). This view allows for an acknowledgement of the ontic horizon of human experience, co-constituted by the dimensions of modal aspects and type laws, without elevating human understanding to become the law-giver of the world.
Highlights
It is a privilege to contribute to the Festschrift – a special issue of Koers, dedicated to the philosophical work of Ponti Venter
This contribution aims at exploring something contemplated in a discussion after one of Van Riessen’s seminars. It will serve as a starting point for a classical philosophical problem, namely the relationship between thought and being and the facilitating role this issue played in coming to terms with the nature of and difference between rationalism and irrationalism
It is insufficient to define irrationalism as an absolutisation of the factual side of reality. It seems as though it is more nuanced to advance our proposal, namely to hold that rationalism leaves no room for true concept-transcending knowledge whilst irrationalism leaves no room for genuine conceptual knowledge
Summary
It is a privilege to contribute to the Festschrift – a special issue of Koers, dedicated to the philosophical work of Ponti Venter. This contribution aims at exploring something contemplated in a discussion after one of Van Riessen’s seminars It will serve as a starting point for a classical philosophical problem, namely the relationship between thought and being and the facilitating role this issue played in coming to terms with the nature of and difference between rationalism and irrationalism. Historicism relativised universality with its focus on the unique and unrepeatable, advancing what we shall identify as an irrationalistic alternative to the dominant rationalism of the Enlightenment Against this background a few systematic considerations will be introduced, centred in the distinction between two kinds http://www.koersjournal.org.za of knowledge: conceptual knowledge and concept-transcending knowledge. If the different parts are further divided, this process of division can proceed indefinitely, and the multiplicity is unlimited.
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