Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J. F.

Buch: The Way to Nicea

Titel: The Way to Nicea

Stichwort: Dialektik (dialectic), dialektischer Prozess; Unterscheidung: formales, materiales Prinzip, Ziel, der Prozess selbst; Tertullian

Kurzinhalt: The dialectic process is the actual elimination of the contradiction; in Tertullian we have found the material principle of a dialectic. For he held ...

Textausschnitt: 48a
4. We have been discussing the difference between the position of Tertullian and that of Athanasius. It is not enough, however, to grasp this difference; the significant thing is to understand the movement, or dialectic, that brought about the development from the one position to the other. This dialectic is, indeed, the heart of the whole matter. (Fs)

48b Within this dialectic we distinguish a material and a formal principal, the dialectic process itself, and the term, or goal, of the process. (Fs)

The material principle is an objective contradiction, which may be either explicit or implicit. (Fs)

The formal principle is the rational subject, under the aspect of his rationality, illumined either by the light of natural reason alone, or by the light of reason strengthened by the greater light of Faith. (Fs)

49a The dialectic process is the actual elimination of the contradiction. For it is a natural tendency of reason to get rid of contradictions. If the contradiction in question is only implicit, it is first made explicit; then one side of the contradiction can be clearly affirmed and the other denied. Where reason is somewhat tardy, or the matter itself rather difficult, the process is gradual: one by one, different elements of the contradiction are made explicit, until eventually the whole contradiction is eliminated. (Fs) (notabene)

49b The term of the dialectic is either heresy or an advance in theology. It is heresy, where only the light of natural reason is operative; it is an advance in theology, where reason is illumined and strengthened by faith. (Fs) (notabene)
49c Applying these general categories to our present topic, we can say that in Tertullian we have found the material principle of a dialectic. For he held that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, and that both are God: but he also held that the Son was temporal; he made a distinction between the whole divine substance, on the one hand, and a derived portion of it, on the other; and he had the Father commanding what was to be done, and the Son doing what was commanded. A few simple syllogisms suffice to show that the latter assertions contradict the basic thesis. Secondly, the formal principle, as far as rationality itself is concerned, is common to all thinking men; as far as reason illumined by faith is concerned, it is present in all believers, considered precisely as believers. Thirdly, the dialectic process itself is grasped, not in any single author, considered apart, but in a whole series of authors, coming one after the other, each in his own way trying to resolve the basic contradiction, until at last it is in fact totally eliminated. Finally, the term of this dialectic, inasmuch as it is an advance in theology, we shall find in Athanasius; inasmuch as it is heresy, we shall find it in the Arians. (Fs) (notabene)