Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: Topics in Education

Titel: Topics in Education

Stichwort: Notion of being ; fundamental dynamism; pure desire to know; species intelligibilis; intellectus agens, possibilis

Kurzinhalt: 5 elements of the notion of being; the asking in words is an expression of that fundamental dynamism; ens quo, ens quod, judgment, being, intentio entis

Textausschnitt: 38/7 Now, if we try to put together all the elements in the notion of being, we can distinguish five points:
(1) the intention of being;
(2) the concept of being;
(3) knowing a being;
(4) knowing the notion of being; and
(5) knowing being, or knowing the idea of being. (173; Fs)
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39/7 The intention of being is the light of intellect, the origin of wonder, the origin of all questions asking Why? How? What? and again, Is it so? It is the ground of human intelligence. It is not knowing anything or conceiving anything; it is consciously discontented ignorance. One wants to understand, one wants to know, one asks. The asking in words is an expression of that fundamental dynamism, the origin of all science and philosophy. It is in virtue of the intention of being that St Thomas concludes to a natural desire to know God. When we know the existence of God, we ask, What is God? To ask what something is is to want to know it by its essence, and the only knowledge of God by his essence is the beatific vision. Consequently, when we ask, What is God? we are expressing, not any acquired or infused habit, but something that is natural to man, namely, to ask, What is it? with regard to anything he meets with or knows about. The pure desire to know is the root of the intellectual pattern of experience and is to be contrasted with Heidegger's Sorge, concern, which is man as he ordinarily is. Man's flow of consciousness is not simply an expression of the pure desire to know, but is modified by concerns of all types. (173; Fs) (notabene)