Prolegomena to theism

Front matter

Prolegomena to

Theism

Glass ii_i-

Part I Logic

LOGICAL LAWS AND CATEGORIES

Logic is the concrete science of the ideological laws and categories which, being a reflex of the entitative order of eternal truth, constitute the basis and the norm for the subjective cognizance of truth in all mental experience.

The eternally actual and omnipresent representance of the entitative laws of the submanent essence of truth (see Submanence) constitutes the fundament of all logical conceptions, and expresses, ipso facto, the ontological a priori, which is the objective antecedent of all intellectual a posteriori researches for the thinking subject. Therefore the ideological order, expressed through the ideological laws and categories, is the reflex of the ontological laws and, as such, constitutes the basis and the norm of thinking.

Psychologically the determination for truth is the prime subjective condition of the cognizance of truth, therefore it is the deep and earnest will for truth, for thorough insight and clear judgment, which imparts logical power to the thinking subject. There is no logic for an unruly will.

The fundamental laws of thinking are: i. The law of the logical principle.

2. The law of the logical process.

3. The law of the logical effect.

The Law of the Logical Principle

The law of the logical principle is the fundament of all logical ideas. This law expresses and affirms itself with absolute necessity in all processes and effects of thinking and thus constitutes the principal categorical order and the sole criterion of truth in all operations of subjective thinking.

Without the law of the logical principle logic is impossible.

The law of the logical principle has three categories :

i. The category of absoluteness.

2. The category of objectivity.

3. The category of causality.

The category of absoluteness is the fundament of the law of the logical principle which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of the logical criterion of absolute truth.

Absoluteness, as an ideological form or category, is the necessary reflex of the entitative truth of the Absolute. Therefore absoluteness is the one, identical, fundamental and unconditional, ideological imperative, through which is affirmed, in all logical operations of thinking, the necessary and infallible consciousness of the absolute principle, as such. The instinctive desire of the thinking subject for the unconditional certainty of objective truth has its source in this logical category, without which no logical process of thinking would be possible.

The real fundament of the evidence of truth is absoluteness.

(The ontological proof relates to this category.)

The category of objectivity is the process of the law of the logical principle which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of the absolute object, as the absolute norm of the cognition of truth.

The concrete representance of entity absolutely predicates the unconditional and infinite objectivity through conditioned and limited objectivity. Thus the absolute object, by logical necessity, is the absolute norm of the cognition of truth throughout the total relative representance of entity. This absolute norm predicates the first logical divergency which is the dualistic form of subjective cognition; that of the absolute and that of the relative object. This first logical divergency or logical contraposition constitutes the ideological basis of the mental power of discrimination and the first sphere of subjective cognition. Hence without consciousness of absoluteness no consciousness of relativity, and without consciousness of objectivity no consciousness of subjectivity is possible.

As the process-category of the law of the logical principle, objectivity is the basis of the law of the logical process (relativity, subjectivity and finality).

(Every form of dualism relates to this category.)

The category of causality is the effect of the law of the logical principle which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of absolute subordination of all relative terms directly or indirectly under the absolute object as its principle of truth.

Causality, as such, logically predicates the antecedent of absoluteness and objectivity, therefore it is the principal effect-category in the cognition of the absolute and the relative object.

Since causality, as well as the other categories, is essentially determined, it therefore possesses only an ideologically instrumental effect-force in thinking, but no power of determining the will. Causality predicates categorically the principal causator, therefore it effectuates in final thinking the cognizance of the Absolute. The hypothesis of the mechanical determinism is due to the popular error of identifying the cause with the substance or the Absolute.

Causality operates as a category of the ideological order, by means of which are defined all dialectic deductions and inductions. Therefore is causality the logistic principle of the dependency of all a posteriori conceptions and the ideological form of motivation in thinking.

Since objectivity is a logical antecedent of causality, or else nothing can cause, and since objectivity, as the principal basis of process in thinking, has a dual or contrapositional form, there consequently exists a direct, i.e., absolute cause and an indirect, i.e., relative cause. In either case is cause an effect of the object, therefore causality is a postcedent effect-category in the process of thinking and no principle of determining. It follows that causality, as such, is the principal categorical predicator of the absolutely causing Absolute, as the absolute object, and through its ideologically effective force, the categorical copula of either absolute or relative relations in subjective consciousness.

Psychologically cause is the effect of the determining motive, no matter how conscious or apparently unconscious, and is a purely ideological occasion which the subjective motive may accept or reject according to the disposition of its motor as a free agent.

The concrete difference between cause, as such, and effect, as such, is that cause is the form of a determining fact, and that effect is the form of a determined fact of the factor, either absolute or relative. Both cause and effect are mere facts, ideologically and concretely, hence the error of identifying cause with effect or of denying the existence of causes.

Truth essentially effects definition, hence causality, as the effect-category of the logical principle, is the basis of the law of the logical effect (definibility, negativity and positivity).

The Law of the Logical Process

The law of the logical process is the ideological process-norm which, as such, constitutes the categories of dependency in subjective thinking.

This law is the logical region of the subject which, in the consciousness of its dependency, through the effect of definition, strives after the logical principle in order to attain the cognition of the true representance of entity.

The law of the logical process has three categories :

i. The category of relativity.

2. The category of subjectivity.

3. The category of finality.

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The category of relativity is the fundament of the law of the logical process which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of the absolute dependency of relative objects from the absolute object.

Relativity is the categorical antithesis of absoluteness and consequently the form of unconditional dependency, which constitutes the principal category of the conditioned logical law of process.

Since absoluteness, as the principal category of truth, and consequently as the antithesis of relativity, categorically excludes all relative processes, it ipso facto predicates its absolute affirmation through relativity. Therefore relativity expresses in its essence the categorical affirmation of the Absolute, as such, and of the category of absoluteness as the principal, unconditional and necessary form of logical reasoning.

By inductive order relativity refers to the effectuating causality, and through the latter to the causing conditioned and unconditioned object. Hence relativity is a form of ideological tangibility and correlation of objective truth with subjective consciousness.

This category constitutes the basis of logical dependency, and affirms the logical necessity of the conception of the Absolute.

The category of subjectivity is the process of the law of the logical process which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of the dependency of subjective cognition of truth from the logical laws of truth.

Through this category the thinking subject has the cognition of self as the center of the logical law of process. Conditioned by everything that surrounds it, the subject obtains the cognizance of itself as a volitional, self-conscious, relative being, whereby the logical contraposition of the absolute object and the relative subject affirms itself in consciousness. This category not only affirms the logical and actual dependency of the cognizant subject from the absolute truth, and the Absolute, but also furnishes evidence of the fallacy of the abstractly independent, subjectivistic point of view.

The process-category of the law of the logical process (subjectivity) is the direct antithesis of the process-category of the logical principle (objectivity), hence its unconditional relation to the absolute object, and its conditional relation to conditioned objects.

The category of finality is the effect of the

logical law of process which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of aim of all existential relations to the absolute object as its absolute principle.

Relativity logically operates through finality, because finality constitutes the sole directive and the ultimate term of all mental and actual processes. As causality is the effect-category of the logical principle, thus finality is the effect-category of the logical process (relativity). As the logical principle dominates the logical process through causality, thus introversively the logical process subordinates itself under the logical principle through finality. Finality is the logical retrospective of the prospective causality.

Causality and finality are the correlative effect-categories of all processes of thinking and the logical basis of all positive definition.

The law of the logical process predicates in categorical order relativity as the fundamental category of dependency which, within the process-category of subjectivity, logically compels the subject, as the center of relation, to effectuate its logical concepts for the cognition of the absolute principle of truth through the category of finality.

(The teleological proof has its basis in this category.)

The Law of the Logical Effect

The law of the logical effect is the law of definition per se. This law constitutes the logical predicate in subjective thinking, whereby the subject is defined in its unconditioned relation to the Absolute, as to the transcendent principle of truth, and in its conditioned relation to superordinate, co-ordinate and subordinate objects.

The law of the logical effect has three categories :

i. The category of definibility.

2. The category of negativity.

3. The category of positivity.

The category of definibility is the fundament of the law of the logical effect which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of the logical predicate for the subjective attainment of truth.

The final predicate of logic is the definition of the entitative representance in subjective thinking.

Entitative representance is the objective definition. The cognition of the objective definition of entitative truth is the logical labor of subjective definition. The logical a priori definition with its deductive process is the aim of the efforts of logical a posteriori definition with its inductive process. Each subject has its own volitional a priori, which is seldom in conformity with the entitative laws of truth.

The categories of the law of the logical principle; absoluteness, objectivity and causality, constitute the ideological fundament of definition, and the categories of the law of the logical process; relativity, subjectivity and finality, constitute the ideological norm of definition. Hence definibility constitutes the ideological effect and, as such, is the logical category through which is expressed each logical definition of the thinking subject.

Without the three principal categories and the three process-categories no logical definition is possible. The profoundness, order and circumspection of definition depend on the degree of conformity of knowledge to the above categories.

The category of negativity is the process of the law of the logical effect which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of non-identity of the object in the process of definition.

Negativity is the clearing process of definition, because it expresses contradiction by thetical non-identity of the object or by the logical inadequacy of the attributes of the object necessary for the positive definition. Therefore through negativity the subjective power of thinking attains the definitial congruity with the objective representance of truth.

This category is the effect of the logical dualism which is predicated through the process-category of the logical principle (objectivity) and through the process-category of the logical process (subjectivity), thus constituting in consciousness the ideological antithesis, without which for a relative subject the positive definition would be impossible.

The purpose of negativity is criticism and its sole aim the positive definition.

The category of positivity is the effect of the

law of the logical effect which, as such, constitutes in consciousness the ideological form of the affirmative evidence of the defined object.

This category, as the effect-form of the logical law of effect, constitutes the final term of all causal and final processes of thinking. Adequate to the absolute necessity of the affirmation of the absolute truth, definition is affirmative in its essence, hence its effect-form of positivity, which affirms in consciousness the ontological predicate of the absolute truth. Thus positivity constitutes in subjective thinking the definite form of evidence, which is the incontestable form of the logical proof.

The defined logical laws with their respective categories constitute the essential form of all logical cognition and therefore of all logical dialectics. These laws, having an entitatively objective fundament, apply, ipso facto, within the immanent process of cognition, to Ontology.

The history of logic is marked by a total lack of the axiological fundament which is absolutely essential for the concrete exposition of the logical laws and categories. The idealistic standpoint, however philosophical in its effort, is too subjectivistic in its method to find the objective basis of the concrete logical forms. Hence the confusion of such logical categories as object, causality and relation with the entitative determinative substance and its attributes, necessity, identity and reality; with the extramanent forces, time, space, quantity and quality; with the psychic and dynamic forces, action and motion; and finally with the sub-forms of relativity, inherence, correlation, modality, etc. The main tendency of the present status of philosophy is relativism. As a consequence all present logical methods are more or less abstract and of necessity lack the logical profundity necessary to establish a concrete philosophical synthesis.

Part II Ontology

ONTOLOGY

Ontology is the science of the essential determinatives of the Absolute Potentia which, as such, eternally constitute, define and affirm entity (esse ad extra).

Potentia, per se, is the concrete creative might of the Absolute and is consequently the absolute principle and the absolute proto-type of entity.

The determinatives of the Absolute Potentia, which constitute the Being, are :

i. Submanence,

(Subsistentia supernaturalis vel vis absolute determinans).

2. Immanence,

(Substantia spiritualis vel vis absolute determinata ut se determinat).

3. Extramanence,

(Substantia naturalis vel vis absolute determinata atque instrumentalis).

SUBMANENCE

Submanence, the principal determinative of the Absolute Potentia, by virtue of its eternal dignity, truth and love, is the proto-typical subsistence of entity, thus constituting, defining and affirming in entity the absolute, transcendent and eternal majesty of GOD.

Philosophy has never essentially risen above the theories of cognition of Plato and Aristotle. On account of their more or less subjectivistic tendencies, which were adopted as the fundament of cognition by the succeeding schools, philosophy became fixed either in different methods of an inconcrete idealism or of an abstract sensualism. These theories, owing to their ontological insufficiency, were closely followed by scepticism, which, fostered by the low elevation of submanence in humanity, manifests a negative power of no little importance.

Since philosophy could positively and formally define neither the principle nor the laws of worth-essence (submanence), the establishment of a logical basis for the supreme tendency of the human spirit, which is religion, has hitherto been impossible. Hence with the rise of scientific criticism has followed the inevitable decline of those religious teachings which are based on purely historic and traditional grounds. Without submanence, as the principal and proto-typical subsistence of entity, there is no logical possibility of religion.

Notwithstanding the rise and fall of philosophical theories and their various applications to the different theological systems, there have remained, uninfluenced by the intellectual and dogmatic struggle, self-evident teachings of a certain religious sense, manifestly inherent in the human soul. This deeply rooted sense, which appeals to every man, stands out as an incontestable truth. It has been called successively Daimonion, Syneidesis, Subesse animi, Lex DEI, Magisterium internum, Scintilla and finally Conscience. All confessions of faith, in spite of their dogmatic divergencies, have affirmed conscience within the human soul as the one supreme factor which constitutes the final court of appeal of the good and evil in every act of life.

Conscience has been defined either as a separate sense of the soul or as a subordinated faculty of reason. Neither definition is logical, because the will, the intellect and the sentiment are the only fundamental faculties of the soul and it is obvious that conscience, which is the most important factor of the soul, cannot be a subordinated faculty of reason. These errors are to be ascribed to the general lack of ontological and psychological knowledge.

" Conscience" is the subjective act of submanent consciousness.

The concrete predicate of conscience is "face to face" with submanence.

By virtue of the revealing might of the determinatives of the Absolute Potentia, the thinking subject receives the cognition of submanence as well as that of immanence and extramanence. The discrimination and the order of these three determinatives are obvious.

Owing to the fact that submanence is the principal determinative of the Absolute Potentia, and as such, the fundamental reason of life, it therefore necessarily impresses the subject with its supreme dignity and its entitative authority which no one is able to evade.

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Each entitatively objective representance is the a priori of each a posteriori subjective cognition, therefore is conscience the subjective a posteriori act of consciousness of the a priori submanence. As submanence is the proto-typical subsistence of entity, it therefore follows that conscience is the highest act of the subjective complex of immanent forces, i.e., of the will through reason and sentiment. The psychological process of conscience is explained in the a se and ad se motives of the will. (See Immanence.)

The biblical " Image of GOD," the "daimonion" of Socrates, the "syneidesis" of Chrisippus, the "subesse animi" of Seneca, "the lex Dei" of Origen, the "magisterium internum" of Augustin, the " scintilla" of Eckhart, as well as the " first law," the " voice of law," the "law of the highest" and the " light of reason" of the Zend-Avesta and the Hindoo and Chinese Scriptures relate to submanence as the principal determinative of entity. Without submanence and consequently without conscience there is no religion, no law, no right and no duty for man.

The fact that the study of conscience has been kept in the background by all educational institutions accounts for the comparatively low state of religious elevation and for the general weakness of the human sense of justice.

Submanence Has Three Essences:

i. The principal essence of Submanence — Eternal Dignity (Essentia essendi).

2. The process-essence of Submanence — Eternal

Truth (Definibilitas essendi).

3. The effect-essence of Submanence — Eternal

Love (Reale essendi).

The Submanent Essence of Eternal Dignity (Essentia Essendi)

Eternal Dignity is the principal essence of submanence and, as such, is the absolute fundament of worthiness, which is the sole cause and aim of the total immanent and extramanent existence.

The various degrees of conformity of subjective determinations to the essentia essendi constitute the entitative worthiness of each subjective being. The immeasurable entitative heirarchies of worlds, the manifoldness of their existential states, the differences of types, races and individuals and the anti-submanent abyss of animals, are the entitative predicates of the degrees of determinations for or against the eternal dignity of submanence. Extramanence, being the entitatively instrumental determinative, inseparably follows this supreme law as an existential expression.

The Entitative Laws of the wSubmanent Essence of Eternal Dignity are :

i. The principal law of the submanent essence of eternal dignity — (Gloria DEI).

2. The process-law of the submanent essence of

eternal dignity — (Potestas supernaturalis).

3. The effect-law of the submanent essence

of eternal dignity — (Beatitudo supernaturalis).

The principal law of the submanent essence of dignity is the entitative law of the Glory of GOD which, by virtue of its absolutely transcendent essence of Sanctity, constitutes and affirms the eternally supreme adoration of GOD, as the Absolute Object, the Absolute Cause and the Absolute Aim of entity.

The glory of GOD, through the entitative law of submanence, predicates the "Summum et Optimum" of all subjective determinations. As such it is the supreme norm of submanent dignity which, adequately to the participation of subjective determinations with submanence, predicates the one true dignity in being. No subjective sentiment of adoration has a true foundation unless it is based on the transcendent glory of the Absolute.

The spontaneity of the soul as an intrinsically immanent force expresses by all logical and entitative laws and through all final intellectual and sentimental determinations the necessity of affirmation of the " Highest and Best" which is GOD, the eternal source of our life. It is no more possible to possess true subjective dignity or honor without the Absolute than it is to possess certainty in consciousness without the category of absoluteness. Consequently atheism, in its various phases of pantheistic poetry, sceptical laconicism and materialistic bigotry, constitutes not only the most illogical absurdum, but above all, and in spite of some intentions to the contrary, a degradation of man.

The process-law of the submanent essence of dignity is the entitative law of the submanent might which constitutes and affirms the supremacy and norm of freedom of determination for the eternal affirmation of the Absolute in entity.

The law of submanent might is the essential basis of submanent wisdom and justice and, as such, constitutes the essential norm of the unrestricted freedom of virtuous actions.

This entitative law absolutely dominates and rules the total being with its eternally immanent determinations and extramanent expressions. It sanctifies the imperishable deeds of prophets, saints, martyrs and heroes of virtue, and it furthers the progress of greater religious consciousness, and the better fulfillment of human duties. By virtue of the process-law of submanent might all submanent determinations are confirmed, elevated and eternally dignified, whereas all anti-submanent determinations are restricted and punished, thus affirming the eternal triumph of submanence in entity.

The lack of determination to submanence accounts for the weakness of human character with its consequent intellectual and sentimental misery. On the other hand, the submanently determined subject possesses and enjoys unrestricted freedom for the development and elevation of his force of submanent character. This submanent character makes the subject the powerful guide, the wise teacher and the trusted friend ; it fills him with the sublime spirit of sacrifice which knows neither fear nor barrier of death.

dignity is the entitative law of submanent beatitude which, by virtue of its intrinsic concomitance with the Divine Glory and submanent might, constitutes, affirms and effectuates the supremacy and norm of eternal fruition in entity.

Submanent beatitude is the logical and the real effect of submanent glory and of submanent might. All ambitious characters instinctively feel this logical order of happiness, but unfortunately it is frequently abused by their restless and selfish subjectivism. This always ends in just disappointment, lasting grief or in a violent check of their non-submanent tendency.

It is through no subjectivistic "haphazard," but through the entitatively submanent laws that each determination must effectuate its worthiness, its wisdom and consequently its submanent love, in order to attain eternal beatitude. This is the entitative course of our life, hence the instinctively intensive adherence to life in all states of existence.

The entitative law of eternal, submanent beatitude compels individuals, nations and all humanity to appeal, especially in moments of trial, for GOD'S mercy, consolation and peace in order to alleviate the submanently wretched state of their souls.

The norm of eternal beatitude in the whole entity is absolutely adequate to the degrees of passivity, activity or intensity of submanent determinations of the subject. Hence the just order of the higher submanent states, where eternal fruition of beatitude is the daily bread, and the lower, less submanent states, where the struggle with selfishness and ignorance is the daily effort in the ascent toward submanent elevation. Thus the entitative laws of Divine Glory, of submanent might and of submanent beatitude predicate the principal essence of submanence, which constitutes the supreme affirmation of the Absolute.

The Submanent Essence of Eternal Truth (Definibilitas Essendi)

Eternal Truth, which emanates from the verity of the Absolute Potentia, is the process-essence of submanence which constitutes the eternal definibility of entity.

Through this eternal definibility are predicated the absolute determinatives, submanence, immanence and extramanence, with their essences, laws, forces and forms. Its processive might effectuates the form of the objective representance of entity which constitutes the fundament of the logical law of principle, the logical law of process and the logical law of effect with their respective categories.

The relative possession of truth by the subject depends not only on the objective representance of truth, but also on the subjectively spontaneous determination to acquire truth; therefore the more intensive the subjective determination for submanence, the truer and stronger is the intelligence of the subject.

The Laws of the Submanent Essence of Truth are:

i. The principal law of the submanent essence of truth — (Lex lucis Divinae).

2. The process-law of the submanent essence of

truth — (Lex sapientiae supernaturalis).

truth — (Lex simplicitatis supernaturalis).

The principal law of the submanent essence of truth is Divine light which, by virtue of its absolute principle of definibility, constitutes the absolute form of every logical definition in entity.

Divine light is the essential fundament, the imperative order and the absolute affirmation of truth in entity and consequently it is the ontological basis of the law of the logical principle with its three categories; absoluteness, objectivity and causality. Each thought of the human mind, by force of logical order, is compelled to seek concrete certainty in this principal law of the essence of truth. Without this law reason would be impossible.

The definibility of the Absolute Potentia is eternally objective and is affirmed as such throughout the total order of entity. Therefore every subjectivistic tendency of philosophy must sink into impotency and confusion. Subjectivism and naturalism are the predicates of the debasement of human intelligence. The history of philosophy illustrates the struggle of ontology with the relativistic subjectivism.

As logic is impossible without the objectively actual essence of truth, the existence of truth is impossible without the actual principle of entity, which is submanence. Consequently the desire for truth in humanity will never be satisfied with any ontologically ungrounded theories.

The doctrine that man, by means of reason, cannot obtain a sufficient cognition of GOD, is a most illogical anomaly, for all cognition, be it submanent, immanent or extramanent, is effectuated through intellect only. There exists no other organ of cognition in the subject. Hence a religious belief which does not conform entirely to the legitimate requirements of reason, rests on unsafe ground, which fact from day to day becomes more obvious.

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On the other hand, it is erroneous to presume that an extensive philosophical knowledge is necessary in order to impart to the average man a sufficient idea of GOD and religion. Every man with a sound common sense and good will, be he literate or not, understands the effects of the laws of submanence better than the effects of all other laws, because submanence is for the human soul not only the most intimate but also the most tangible factor.

There is no duty and no deed in daily life which does not rest on a submanent basis. The intellectual as well as the sentimental tendency to the cognizance of GOD is the most concrete fact and the highest desire of thinking men. "At the bottom of all things is GOD."

Divine light is the eternal revelation of truth, the eternal source of the representance of entity and the eternal fundament and norm of subjective cognition and contemplation of truth.

The process-law of the submanent essence of truth is the law of submanent wisdom which, by virtue of its eternal norm of definibility, constitutes the fundamental rule of the relations of definibility to the Absolute.

Submanent wisdom is the absolute directive of all relative and final definitions toward the Absolute Object, as the eternal principle and aim of all cognition. Without this normative truth-process of submanence, neither could the object-representance of entity effectuate the harmonious coherence of the proto-typical determinatives of entity and its essences, laws, forms and sub-forms, nor could the subject have any true conception of the relation of things and of its own self -relation to the ob-

3 1 ject. Therefore submanent wisdom predicates the power of order of all logical relations in entity and, eo ipso, constitutes the basis of the law of the logical process with its categories; relativity, subjectivity and finality.

truth is the law of submanent simplicity which, by virtue of its eternal evidence, constitutes the form of the veracity of definibility and intelligibility.

Submanent simplicity constitutes the essential formlaw of the ontological and logical evidence and the fundament of the law of the logical effect with its three categories; definibility, negativity and positivity.

The submanent law of simplicity effectuates the identity of the objective representance ; thus it is the antithesis of duplicity.

Simplicity predicates the actuality of truth and the definitely formal veracity of entity, which fact makes the three absolute determinatives, submanence, immanence and extramanence, and their logical unfolding of ontological laws, so invincibly clear. By virtue of simplicity the subject obtains the clear cognition.

The effect of submanent simplicity is essentially positive, therefore it effectuates the precision of logical force and the veracity of the submanently determined subject. The reasoning man demands simplicity in order to obtain the evidence essential for judgment. The passing of philosophical systems and religious confessions is due to the lack of submanent simplicity, manifested on the one hand through logical weakness and terminological vagueness, and, on the other hand, through changeableness of subjective sentimentality. Instability of acts, unclearness of thoughts, and affectation of sentiments all have their seat in subjective duplicity.