The Gospel’s Double Antisymmetry as the End-Point of the Development of Western Society

Borut Pohar

doi:10.3390/rel13010080

Abstract

In this article, we addressed the question of whether the Gospel’s double antisymmetry can be found in reality as such and especially in Western society, which has obviously made developments in its history. Based on the conceptual analysis of language, we came to the conclusion that there are four layers of reality: the material world, lifeworld, material life and personal life. Through the analysis of individual layers of reality, we have come to the realization that they are characterized by the double antisymmetry (horizontal and vertical) spoken of in the Gospel. While the world (material and lived) is characterized by the primacy of parts over the whole, life (material and personal) is characterized by the primacy of the whole over the parts. Furthermore, if the material world and material life are characterized by the supremacy of the abstract over the concrete, the lifeworld and personal life are characterized by the supremacy of the concrete over the abstract. Based on examples from logic, science, and society, we also show how this antisymmetry manifests itself in concrete phenomena of everyday life and how it points to the gradual conversion of Western society, which is, according to our conclusion, becoming more and more like the People of God, the heir of the Kingdom of Heaven proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth.

Highlights

Based on the Modus ponens inference schema, we can justify the following thesis: The orbit of the planet Mars will certainly have the shape of an ellipse because the planet Mars orbits the Sun, and Kepler’s First Law states that if a planet orbits the Sun, its orbit must have the shape of an ellipse, which can be described by a scientific law or equation E
Wilhelm Dilthey saw understanding as the key for the human sciences, in contrast with the natural sciences. This precedence of a whole is reflected that for the discovery of truths about humanity we need a prior knowledge, because we cannot analyze an individual identity in isolation from other identities. This is in horizontal antisymmetry with the deductive and inductive science, where no prior knowledge is needed for discovering a scientific law or a general law
It is reflected in the fact that the truthfulness of an individual scientific theoretical explanation is not recognized at the level of the individual, as scientific explanations cannot be proven, for the search for truth is in the domain of the scientific community

Summary

Introduction

It is an attempt to define a big picture of Reality, the Christian ‘’map of meaning” or framework, which is hidden in the depths of Christian tradition, and to show that it makes sense of our observations and experience This is a project that goes beyond the scope of this article, in which we focus on only one part of Reality, namely the phenomenon of Western society and try to find its big picture, i.e., the content of all of its four ontological layers. In line with the principles of critical rationalism, we have decided to put a part of this emerging project into critical public debate in order to eliminate possible mistakes and make up for shortcomings from the very beginning

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion