Series A Books
Information about Ordering
I: A New Critique of Theoretical Thought
(4 Volumes - taken together 2205 pages - Numbers A1, A2, A3, and A4)
Description: Although intended as a translation of the Dutch
magnum opus this English version of the main systematic work of Dooyeweerd
in many respects turned out to be a new work.
(List price: US$139.95, Book Plan price: US$55.98)
contains a fundamental critique of the long-lasting (rationalistic)
belief that theoretical thought is autonomous - supplemented by an extensive
analysis of the development of modern humanistic philosophy showing
that it is in the grip of the supra-theoretical basic ground-motive
of nature and freedom (science-ideal versus personality-ideal). In addition
it investigates the relationship between philosophy and world- and life-view
as well as an initial assessment of the foundational influence of philosophical
conceptions on the various academic disciplines ("special sciences").
[ISBN 0-7734-8707-7]
(List price: US$139.95, Book Plan price: US$55.98)
develops a philosophically original understanding of properties and
functional relations between things, events and societal relationships
in reality, subsumed under the general idea of a unique "sphere of laws"
or a "law-sphere". Not only are these aspects/law-spheres/modalities
of reality unique and irreducible, but at once they also reflect within
themselves structural moments referring analogically to all the other
modes - thus evincing the equally primary coherence between all aspects
of reality. In his general theory of the modal law-spheres Dooyeweerd
addresses numerous perennial philosophical issues relevant for diverse
academic disciplines, including the reality of the deepening, disclosing
and unfolding of the meaning of aspects. This volume contains a more
detailed account of his theory of knowledge (epistemology) - where he
raises (even before the analytic philosopher Quine did so) questions
about the well-known (Kantian) distinction between analytic and synthetic
propositions. [ISBN 0-7734-8709-3]
(List price: US$159.95, Book Plan price: US$63.98)
sets out to analyze the structure of individual totalities, i.e. things,
processes and societal institutions and relationships that in principle
function in all the modal aspects of reality discussed in volume II.
In this volume Dooyeweerd accounts for the idea of an entity that cannot
be described exhaustively through the gateway of any abstracted aspect
in which it has a function. The idea of an individual whole (technically
designated as an individuality-structure) as it is given in our concrete
everyday experience precedes its theoretical analysis. Once again Dooyeweerd
introduces a radically new insight by distinguishing between what he
calls the basic function (foundational function) and the guiding function
(qualifying function) of structures of individuality. The scope of this
analysis cuts through all existing academic disciplines. Natural things,
living entities, the human being, human society (undifferentiated societies
and a comprehensive structural analysis of the state, church, family,
marriage and different forms of interlacement within a differentiated
society) as well as objectified things in nature and culture are treated.
These three volumes actually serve to lay the foundation for his three
volume work on the nature of being human, i.e. his philosophical anthropology,
as it is developed in Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy (description
below). [ISBN 0-7734-8711-5]
A4: Volume IV (257 pp.) Available
(List price: US$109.95, Book Plan price: US$43.98)
Contains an extensive Index to the above mentioned three volumes. [ISBN
0-7734-8713-1]
II: Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy
(3 Volumes - taken together approximately 990 pages - Numbers A5,
A6, and A7)
These three volumes pursue the dialectical development of Greek and
Medieval philosophy with a focus upon anthropological questions in the
broad philosophical sense of the term, and conclude in the third volume
by accounting for various issues emerging from anthropology and natural
philosophy.
A5: Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy, Vol.I (appr. 380
pp.) (click here for an excerpt)
Description: In this volume Dooyeweerd first gives a general characterization
of the difference between theoretical and central religious dialectics
and then proceeds with an analysis of the dialectical development of
pre-Platonic philosophy as motivated by the form-matter ground-motive.
It is concluded with a penetrating discussion of the entire development
of Plato's thought. [ISBN 0-7734-8736-0] (Click here to read a review)
A6: Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy, Vol.II (appr. 370
pp.) (click here for an excerpt)
Description: This volume commences by explaining the intentions of an
intrinsically reformational philosophy. It is followed by a discussion
of theological criticism of Dooyeweerd's philosophy (including the issue
of a reformational Philosophy and the Reformed Confession) in order
to unveil the point of contact between philosophy and the Christian
religion and to oppose the standpoint of accommodation in theological
scholastic philosophy. The Logos-theory and two diverging lines in Kuyper's
thought are investigated, upon which the insights of his (transcendental)
critique of knowledge is applied to an assessment of the whole Thomistic
doctrine of an analogy of being (analogia entis) and of a natural theology
(including Thomas Aquinas' `proofs' for the existence of God). After
a brief discussion of the development of humanistic thought Dooyeweerd
enters into an analysis of the basic structures of reality - amongst
other things confronting the traditional Aristotelian-Thomistic concept
of substance with his idea of the structural wholeness of individual
things (as determined by their individuality-structures). The status
of theological reflection, treated within the context of the tug of
war between the faculties, concludes this volume. [ISBN 0-7734-8738-7]
A7: Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy, Vol.III (appr.
240 pp.) (click here for
an excerpt)
Description: The subtitle of this volume is: NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND
ANTHROPOLOGY. The first half discusses the basic distinction between
matter, plants and animals - in confrontation with diverse trends in
natural philosophy - whereas the second half of this volume presents
the position of being human in the temporal world within the context
of the task of a philosophic anthropology. Particular attention is dedicated
to the normative act-structure of the human being (amongst others Scheler's
views are analyzed), while the Genesis-account (the `days' of creation
and time-measurement) and the modern neo-Darwinian theory of evolution
are also investigated. [ISBN 0-7734-8697-6]
III: Encyclopedia of the Science of Law
(5 Volumes - taken together approximately 1120 pages - Numbers A8,
A9, A10, A11 and A12)
This comprehensive work represents Dooyeweerd's own field of speciality.
A8: Encyclopedia of the Science of Law Volume 1: Introduction (appr.
250 pp. - published) (click
here for an excerpt)
(List price: US$109.95, Book Plan price: US$43.98)
Description: The Introduction may be seen as the most accessible
and authentic orientation in his entire philosophy and it serves as
the basis of the subsequent volumes treating the various foundational
issues of Legal Science. [ISBN 0-7734-8699-2]
A9: Encyclopedia of the Science of Law: Historical Part (appr. 280
pp. - not published)
Description: This volume first of all treats the history of the concept
of encyclopedia in general and then proceeds with an analysis of the
concept encyclopedia of legal science in particular - from the post-Glossatorist
Durantis and via thinkers like Donellus, Ramus, Bodin, Althusius and
Kant up to more recent positivistic and natural law traditions. It then
enters into a summary investigation into the meaning of the jural and
its elimination in the legal conceptions of those philosophical schools
that try to explain reality merely from certain absolutized aspects.
This section serves as a penetrating exploration of the history of legal
and political theories from ancient Greece up to the 20th century. [ISBN
0-7734-8701-8]
A10: Encyclopedia of the Science of Law: Systematic Part A (appr.
260 pp. - not published) (click
here for an excerpt)
Description: This volume contains the highly original and extremely
profound analysis of the basic concepts of legal science. Dooyeweerd
distinguishes between elementary basic concepts (i), complex basic concepts
(ii), categorial relations (iii), and typical concepts (iv). The first
three are discussed in this volume and the fourth in the systematic
volume Part B. The concept of jural causation is used as an example
of his new encyclopedic treatment of elementary basic concepts. The
complex basic concepts discussed (in their historical emergence and
systematic coherence) are that of legal subject, the doctrine of legal
personality, that of (subjective) rights, and the conception of a legal
object. The categorial relations introduced comprise that of law-side
and its factual correlate, the jural subject-object relation, and the
implications of the jural time-order (transitional or inter-temporal
law). [ISBN 0-7734-8703-4]
A11: Encyclopedia of the Science of Law: Systematic Part B (appr.
190 pp. - not published)
Description: The important distinction between public and private law
constitutes the first part of this volume. Dooyeweerd deepens the traditional
understanding of this distinction by articulating a principial difference
within the domain of private law: civil and non-civil private law. Though
indissolubly cohering with the domain of public law (comprising the
Law of Nations, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Criminal Law
and Criminal Law Procedure), private law itself is constituted by the
fundamental difference between the internal legal domain (sphere of
competence) of the different non-political societal institutions (such
as the firm, school, family, religious denominations) and the inter-relations
(on an equal footing, over and against each other) between individuals
and various societal institutions and voluntary organizations. The second
part of this volume deals with the sources of law and the interlacement
between differently structured legal domains. Special attention is given
to the element material competence in the concept of a legal source,
the nature of non-civil coordinational law, and to the structure of
civil and non-civil process law and their intertwinements. [ISBN 0-7734-8705-0]
A12: Encyclopedia of the Science of Law: Revised (unfinished) Introduction
(appr. 330 pp. - not published) (click
here for an excerpt)
Description: Dooyeweerd transformed his initial Introduction substantially
- apparently as part of an overall aim the restructure and finalize
the whole Encyclopedia of Legal Science for publication. In addition
to systematic improvements, important systematic perspective were added
to this volume - not contained in the initial version. This accounts
for the fact that although about 40% of the original Introduction is
absent from this transformed version, its unfinished size exceeds the
original Introduction with almost 100 pages. [ISBN 0-7734-8650-X] |