• Lonergan's Insight
2/17/2007: Definitions and Introduction to Higher Viewpoints
Dr. David P. Fleischacker
Click here for a PDF version of the outline .
I. Definitions
a. Being able to
define gives one a great deal of freedom to order one’s own
intelligence and to express oneself to others.
b. Nominal: enough
of a definition so as to use the word correctly
- Not
necessarily easy.
- Rare
to have adequate verbal/written nominal definitions (most are learned
by differenting experiences.
-
Circle:
perfectly round co-planar curve (describing how it looks to the
eye)
- Straight Line: a
line lies evenly between two extremes (notice line is not defined)
- Try Car
- Try Chair
- Happiness
- Courage
- Kingdom, phylum,
class, order, family, genus, species
c. Explanatory:
nominal plus an explanatory postulate that gives insight into the
object.
- A straight line
is a line that lies between two extremes and is composed of two
right angles.
- Gene:
phenotypic expression is define in a nominal fashion (eg. Rough or
smooth seeds, tall or short plants, green or brown eyes, attached
or unattached earlobe). Genotype as the “explanation”
of the phenotype is a postulate. Notice that only some
“phenotypic” expressions are relevant.
d. Implicit
Definition: The postulate by itself. Expresses just the relational
element. Opens isomorphism.
- Two points
define a straight line and a straight line is defined by any two
points.
- Points
(position without magnitude, any x,y)
- Genetics: moving
from genotype to phenotype to gene-protein (opens up great
expanses of exploration beyond the limited range of phenotypic
possibilities).
II. From Insight to
Explanatory/Implicit Definitions
a. Circles on page
37
b.
Galileo’s
proportions relating distance and time in a falling object.
c.
Newton’s
gravitational equations (more abstract and more explanatory)
d.
Dalton’s
proportions and definitions of Atoms.
e.
Algebraic rules
f.
Calculus
g.
Biology
(reshaping the “experience” using biochemistry/molecular biology) (genetics)
III. Implicitly
Defining Insight
a. Lonergan is
implicitly defining experience-inquiry-insight-conception.
(self-appropriation fills out these terms). Fixed elements (terms
and relations), variable elements (content of the terms).
IV. The formation of a
viewpoint: insights that “combine, cluster, coalesce, into
the mastery of a subject”—results in applications to
larges ranges of instances.
a. A view point can
form into a “system”—eg arithmetic, the periodic
table, etc.
b. The growth of a
viewpoint
- Positive
integers (1+1=2, 2+1=3, 3+1=4, etc., etc., etc.)
- Deductive
expansion (highlight equality, addition tables)
- Homogeneous
Expansion (vast extension of the deductive expansion)
(a) Addition-subtraction
(b) Multiplication-division
(c) Powers-roots
c. The problem
- Negative numbers
- Fractions and
surds
- Multiplication
of negatives
- Division with
negatives
- Subtraction of
negatives
d. The Emergence of
a higher viewpoint
- The image—doing
arithmetic
- Discovering
patterns in arithmetic
- Defining those
patterns.
V. Successive higher
viewpoints
a. Arithmetic—algebra—calculus
b. Physics—chemistry—biology—human
sciences
VI. Symbolism:
definitions are symbolically expressed, and this becomes important
for the formation of experiences which lead to further insight.
a. Roman numerals
b.
Dy/dx
c.
Biochemistry/molecular
biology
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