Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: Understanding and Being

Titel: Understanding and Being

Stichwort: Struktur des rationalen Bewusstseins

Kurzinhalt: Rational Consciousness, principle of noncontradiction, Prinzip des ausgeschlossenen Dritten, Nichtwiderspruchsprinzip, Element d. Absolutheit und Objektivität

Textausschnitt: () On the first level we have sensations, perceptions, and images. On the second level we understand, and understanding yields objects of thought - 'It may be heavy, and it may be light; if I could only get my hand around it and move it quickly, I would know which it is.' Then one performs the experiment, makes the judgment, and says, 'This is heavy.' When one says that, one does not mean 'It feels heavy' or 'There is pressure on my hand.' One is talking about it. There is an element of objectivity entering in.
()
These four points characterize the whole process of rational consciousness. The process begins with the question, Is it or is it not? It includes the principle of excluded middle, provided the question is fairly put -either it is or it is not, either one or the other. It includes the principle of noncontradiction - it cannot be both. It involves an element of the absolute, the ground of what we mean when we speak of the eternality of truth. Finally, it involves an element of objectivity. When we judge we go beyond all question of feelings and appearances, and we say, 'It is so' or 'It is not so.