In
this section we will give a brief outline of each of the modal aspects, however
it is important to make one final point.
The modal spheres are not just abstract categories of what exists as if
what exists lack any intrinsic meaning or value. Modern thought has
disenchanted the world into ‘bare facts’. Calvin Seerveld has expressed well that the modal aspects are channels of God’s
love and blessing towards us and call us to a loving response. All the modal
aspects find their unity in love. Here it is worth quoting Dooyeweerd at
length:
“Man, created in the image of God, should direct all the temporal functions and powers of his existence and those of his whole temporal world unto the service of God. This he was to accomplish in the central unity of his ego by loving God above all. And because, in the order of creation, every human ego in this central religious sense was united with every other human ego in a central communion of the service of God, the love for the neighbour was included in the love of God. We cannot love God without loving His image, expressed in the ego of ourselves and that of our fellow-men. Therefore, the entire divine Law for God’s creation displays its radical unity in the central commandment of love, addressed to the heart … Just as all the aspects of our temporal experience and existence find their central reference point in the human ego, so the commandment of love represents the central unity of all God’s different ordinances for the temporal world” (Dooyeweerd Twilight, 123)
As
we have said before a great danger facing Christianity is the view that this
world is a passing and insignificant phase before the soul is taken to
heaven. In contrast we must affirm that
we cannot live close to God if we deny God’s creation. We serve God not alongside or apart from
creation, our service is here in our everyday lives in all we do (Colossians
3:12-25 esp vv.17 & 23). The closer
we move in genuine love to all God’s creatures, the closer we come to God’s
self. And the closer to God, the more we
will be concerned about his world – a world which He loved so much that his own
Son died for it to be redeemed.
It
is important to be reminded that human beings never act on a modal aspect as
such. Human acts are always concrete
acts within relationships and institutions and upon things. Modal aspects are always only aspects of
concrete existents (things, events, and relationships). This will be especially important later when
we come to look at how to understand history and cultural development.
Here
are the modal spheres identified by Dooyeweerd with the nuclear moments in
brackets.
Numeric (discrete quantity): The numeric aspect is the domain
of magnitude and discrete quantity. It involves more or less, and is
represented by numbers. When considering number there is no need to assume
anything regarding any of the later modal aspects. Once humans take number into
account as part of their responsibility we can speak of too much, too little,
or the right amount.
Spatial (Continuous extension): This aspect is investigated
by geometry. In the number of dimensions and the measurement of them we must
presuppose number. Every part of space is connected in principle to every other
as part of the whole hence ‘continuous extension’. The notions of ‘whole’,
‘part’ and ‘coherence’ find their home in the spatial aspect. Anticipating
human responsibility things may be “out of place” or find their niche.
Kinematic (Movement): It is a dimension we can understand in
terms of inertia: the tendency of matter to remain at rest, or, if moving, to
keep moving in the same direction, unless affected by some outside force.
Physical (Energy): This involves forces and interaction. It is
familiar to us in the phenomenon of mass, force, matter, atomic and molecular
structure.
Biotic (Life): The primary dynamic functions of growth, reproduction,
metabolism, restoration, birth, maturation. It involves the integration of a
whole where all parts work together to generate growth and so continually
generates and regenerates all its parts for its own continued development and
existence. If the link with human responsibility and the realities of good and
evil are less clear in the earlier modes at least here it makes sense to talk
of health and disease, flourishing and decay, vigorous and frail.
Psychic/Sensitive (Feeling or Emotion): this is the mode of goal
directed behaviour, in animals and humans, that is primarily of a sensitive
(feeling, emotional) kind, includes drives, instinct, stimulus-response, and
perception. Humans can be sensitive and well disposed, or insensitive and
suffering.
Analytic/Logical (Analytic Distinction): [here or after the formative
given that animals create artifacts, do they distinguish?] This mode has to do
with the ability to distinguish and identify differences in their context, to
identify and compare things. Animals are able to distinguish prey and
predators, food etc. but they are unable to develop and formulate these
distinctions into concepts where formative control and language is necessary.
Humans maybe thoughtful and lucid, or scatterbrained and muddled.
Formative/Historical (Mastery or Control): The mode of freely making,
crafting, creating, building, producing where choice and responsibility direct
the forming. As it points back to the earlier modes it involves skill and
mastery over objects. As it opens up to later modes it involves culture and
history as the basis for communication and interaction with others. This is the
origin of the means-ends relationship. Animals too make things, but only in the
restrictive sense. Within the context of human cultural development there is
the essential elements of creativity and responsibility. The development of
science and technology in particular allow humans to design and make new things
in order to better the world in far reaching and unexpected ways. In this way
humans transcend the animal kingdom and make possible the disclosure of
cultural forms such as language, education, the arts, society, market relations,
juridical institution and so on. Skilful or incompetent.
Aesthetic (Harmony): Dooyeweerd placed this modal sphere after the
economic and emphasized harmony, however Calvin Seerveld has long argued that
the aesthetic dimension is better understood in terms of suggestion-rich,
allusivity and imagination. As a consequence of this and a number of other
consideration Seerveld places the aesthetic modal aspect after the formative
mode and before the lingual mode. Imaginative or unimaginative.
Lingual/Sign (Symbolic Signification): symbolic signification and
language. Clear or vague.
Social (Intercourse): Social intercourse where the consciously practiced
developed and fostering of relationships is an end in itself. Hospitality and
etiquette, politeness etc. Peaceful or quarrelsome.
Economic (Frugality): The stewardship of resources. Often in
the context of scarcity where frugal use must be made or in the context of a
wealth of possibilities where only a few can be realized. The optimal use of
resources and talents, today often requiring a network of relationships
providing for the exchange of goods and services. Prosperous or deprived,
generous or greedy.
Jural (retribution): The mode of rightly weighing what is due, the call for
justice. Just or unjust.
Ethical/Trothic (Love): the mode of fidelity, loyalty, intimate care
and concern. Loyal or disloyal.
Pistic/Faith (Certitude): Mode of faith, trust, certitude and
surrender. Faith or unbelief.
Contents
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