Transcendental Philosophy and the Study of Religion 3
Transcendental Philosophy and the Study of Religion 3
Sku: 48300A0E060
Archival Number: CD/mp3 483
Author: Lonergan, B.
Language(s): English
Decade: 1960
Description:
CD/mp3 483, part 1 of lecture 2 in the 1968 Boston College Institute. Sponsored by Rev. Msgr. Richard M. Liddy. Lonergan first completes the discussion of the first chapter of his projected Method in Theology, treating the various functions of transcendental method. Transcendental method is the core of all methods It provides the sciences, theology, and other disciplines with a critical basis by aligning actual operations with the way they are objectified. It provides a basis for dialectic and for systematic thought by providing terms and relations in which all others can be grounded. It eliminates ultimate relativism because it is immune at some point from revision, even if the basic terms and relations can be enriched over time. From method Lonergan moves on to a set of methods, namely, functional specialties. This is the first time he went public with this set of notions, and the effect was electric. The idea is basic: successive stages in a single process with the division based not on data or on results but on the operations that lead from data to results. He sketches the eight functional specialties first and then asks about the grounds for picking out just those eight and the principles by which one will clarify further just what pertains to each of the eight. The first division is into the two phases, and then the specialties in each phase are related to one another on the basis of the levels of consciousness. The four levels each have their proper end, and one can devote all one's efforts to the end of one level.