Reflections Based on the Work of Bernard Lonergan
ABSTRACT: The theory of agency, it has been claimed, seems to involve two strange notions: on the one hand, that of a self who is not merely an event, but a substance; and that of causation, according to which an agent, who is a substance, can nevertheless be the cause of an event. The understanding of the conscious subject as constituted by the operations of experience, understanding, judgment and decision, proposed by the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Bernard Lonergan, might resolve the puzzle, and provide the basis for an understanding of human freedom that is the affirmation of neither determinism nor arbitrariness. Perhaps one of the strongest arguments in the proposal's favor is that any attempt to refute it in theory would entail its adoption in practice.
I. Introduction
The theme of freedom is an early and enduring one in the works of the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Bernard J. F. Lonergan (1904-1984). It was the subject of his 1940 doctoral dissertation at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (subsequently published as Grace and Freedom in 1971). Lonergan devoted further explicit attention to the topic in his study of human understanding, Insight, and again, in 1972, in Method in Theology. Since the focus of the doctoral thesis is centred on supernatural grace, I shall turn to the two later works, and other articles, for the elaboration of Lonergan's understanding of human freedom.
II. Consciousness and Subjectivity
What Lonergan wants to propose concerning human freedom cannot be understood apart from his view of the human subject who is free. In many ways, in fact, Lonergan's understanding of freedom, like his cognitional theory and his theological methodology, is simply an application of a more basic theory of subjectivity.
In Lonergan's view, while there is a great emphasis on the human subject in contemporary philosophy, the understanding attained is either incomplete or mistaken. The study of the subject is nothing other than the study of oneself inasmuch as one is conscious, and should proceed as follows:
It attends to operations and to their centre and source which is the self. It discerns the different levels of consciousness, the consciousness of the dream, of the waking subject, of the intelligently inquiring subject, of the rationally reflecting subject, of the responsibly deliberating subject. It examines the different operations on the different levels and their relations to one another.
One's view of human subjectivity will be inaccurate or mistaken to the degree that one either does not advert to all the different operations of consciousness, or to their inter-relationship.
In Roderick Chisholm’s essay Human Freedom and the Self he makes the reader aware of an interesting paradox which is not normally associated with the theory of free will. Chisholm outlines the metaphysical problem of human freedom as the fact that we claim human beings to be the responsible agents in their lives yet this directly opposes both the deterministic (that every action was caused by a previous action) and the indeterministic (that every act is not caused by anything in particular) view of human action. To hold the theory that humans are the responsible agents in regards to their actions is to discredit hundreds of years of philosophical intuition and insight.
Gittings, John. The Changing Face of China: From Mao to market. Oxford University Press, 2005.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
Schoenhals, Michael. China's Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not a Dinner Party. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. Print.
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
Gerald Tannenbaum, ‘China’s Cultural Revolution: Why it had to happen’, and Richard Baum, ‘Ideology redivided’, in Baum and Bennet (eds)
For centuries philosophers have debated over the presence of free will. As a result of these often-heated arguments, many factions have evolved, the two most prominent being the schools of Libertarianism and of Determinism. Within these two schools of thought lies another debate, that of compatibilism, or whether or not the two believes can co-exist. In his essay, Has the Self “Free Will”?, C.A. Campbell, a staunch non-compatiblist and libertarian, attempts to explain the Libertarian argument.
Campbell’s view on Libertarianism is quite simple. Campbell suggests that one needs to judge people by their inner acts or intentions to understand free will. To have freedom one must have a precondition of moral responsibility as well as a categorical analysis of free...
The problem of free will and determinism is a mystery about what human beings are able to do. The best way to describe it is to think of the alternatives taken into consideration when someone is deciding what to do, as being parts of various “alternative features” (Van-Inwagen). Robert Kane argues for a new version of libertarianism with an indeterminist element. He believes that deeper freedom is not an illusion. Derk Pereboom takes an agnostic approach about causal determinism and sees himself as a hard incompatibilist. I will argue against Kane and for Pereboom, because I believe that Kane struggles to present an argument that is compatible with the latest scientific views of the world.
I will commence by defining what makes a mental state conscious. This will be done aiming to distinguish what type of state we are addressing when we speak of a mental phenomenon and how is it, that can have a plausible explanation. By taking this first approach, we are able to build a base for our main argument to be clear enough and so that we can remain committed to.
Jean-Paul Sartre claims that there can be no human nature, or essence, without a God to conceive of it. This claim leads Sartre to formulate the idea of radical freedom, which is the idea that man exists before he can be defined by any concept and is afterwards solely defined by his choices. Sartre presupposes this radical freedom as a fact but fails to address what is necessary to possess the type of freedom which would allow man to define himself. If it can be established that this freedom and the ability to make choices is contingent upon something else, then freedom cannot be the starting point from which man defines himself. This leaves open the possibility of an essence that is not necessarily dependent upon a God to conceive it. Several inconsistencies in Sartre’s philosophy undermine the plausibility of his concept of human nature. The type of freedom essential for the ability to define oneself is in fact contingent upon something else. It is contingent upon community, and the capacity for empathy, autonomy, rationality, and responsibility.
The objective mind takes cognizance of the objective world. Its media of observation are the five senses. It is the out growth of man’s physical nece...
Ever thought about who controls the decisions you make regarding your daily activities? You may think you control every aspect of your life, but some philosophers have questioned such notions. Many schools of thought explain the analogy of free will, and they present the argument of whether we have the freedom to act or other causes and effects determine our destiny. Free will in this context is defined as the freedom to choose and act where there several alternative courses of action. Theologically, the concept of free will is presented as the power to make decisions on our own without necessarily been influenced by external or predetermined courses.
Prior to the Cultural Revolution, the economic movement forwarded by Mao Zedong known as the Great Leap Forward took place from 1958 to 1960. The goal in this campaign was to modernize and industrialize China. After some degree of success in his Five Year Plan such as the increase in production of iron and coal, Mao further sought for his utopian socialist ideas by placing China’s great labor force into large collective farms called communes. However, since all factors of production benefited only the government, the peasants lost their enthusiasm toward working. As a result, agricultural failure led to famine, w...
Freedom, a seven lettered word that varies in meaning for every individual. Freedom is the basis of human rights, without the freedom to do as one please, one feels confine. This confinement leads to many interesting tales of human curiosity expanding and exploring, such as Leonardo DiCaprio fascination with corpses or the escaping of where freedom is not a necessity such as North Korea. There are many aspects to freedom, it is reflected in actions, decisions and thought. In existentialism, one’s philosophical approach is that one is free and is the deciding factor of everything that they choose in their life. In existentialism since one has ultimate freedom in everything, without any authority deciding for them, this vast array of thought that can come for anyone from anywhere creates hell for others, because one is unable to control others.