The place and historical significance of Dooyeweerd’s Inaugural Address of 1926

Authors

  • D. F. M. Strauss University of the Free State, South Africa

Abstract

Dooyeweerd het die toneel as ’n begaafde akademikus betree, is spoedig opgemerk en dit het in 1922 tot die aanbod om adjunkdirek teur van die Kuyper-Stigting te word, gelei. Slegs vier jaar later het hy die posisie van hoogleraar in die Regsfakulteit van die Vrye Universieit van Amsterdam aanvaar, met as leeropdrag Regsfilosofie, Die Ensiklopedie van die Regswetenskap en Oud-Vaderlandse Reg. Naas ’n uitgebreide artikel-reeks oor die Stryd om ’n Christelike Staatkunde het hy in 1926 sy Intreerede gelewer oor De Beteekenis der Wetsidee voor Rechtswetenschap en Rechtsphilosophie. Hierdie Intreerede markeer ’n betekenisvolle beweging weg van die biblisistiese appèl op “Skriftuurlike beginsels” wat in die weg van ’n innerlike reformasie van die vakwetenskappe gestaan het en dit open ’n alternatiewe benadering tot Christelike wetenskap. Wat op val is dat dit nie in isolasie gedoen is nie, maar juis in konfrontasie met die heersende denkstrominge binne die regswetenskap. Tegelyk het hy daarin geslaag om tot ’n nuwe en indringende insig in die diepste dialekties-rigtinggewende motivering van die moderne filosofie sedert die Renaissance te kom – deur hom aangedui as die wetenskapsideaal (natuur) en die persoonlikheidsideaal (vryheid). Die grond-antinomie wat inherent aan hierdie dialektiese grondmotief van die moderne humanisme is kom ook in die talle teoretiese antinomieë binne die regswetenskap tot uitdrukking. Sy nuwe, inter-modale verstaan van teoretiese antinomieë is ewe in no -verend en dit ondersteun sy ontleding van die verskillende kringsoewereine modale aspekte van die werklikheid. Die belofte wat in sy Intreerede vervat is het tot wasdom gekom in twee rigtings: in die uitwerking van sy wysgerige fundering van die regswetenskap in sy veeldelige werk Die Ensiklopedie van die Regswetenskap, en in die aanbieding van sy nuwe wysgerige insigte in die vorm van ’n algemene wysgerige verantwoording aan die akademiese wêreld – in die publikasie van sy magnum opus, De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee (drie volumes in 1935-1936), in Engels vertaal in die vierdelige werk, A New Critique of Theoretical Thought (1953-1958). Hierdie In treerede kan waardeer word as die wieg van die buitengewoon omvattende en indringende intellektuele nalatenskap van Dooyeweerd.

Dooyeweerd entered the scene as a talented academic who soon caught the eye and was offered the position of Deputy Director of the Kuyper Foundation in 1922. A mere four years later he accepted a position at the Faculty of Law at the Free University as professor in Philosophy of Law, Encyclopedia of the Science of Law and Ancient Dutch Law. Apart from an extensive series of articles on the struggle for a Christian politics Dooyeweerd presented his Inaugural Address in 1926 on The Significance of the Cosmonomic Idea for the Science of Law and Legal Philosophy. This Inaugural Address marks a significant shift away from the biblicistic appeal to “Scriptural principles” which obstructed the inner reformation of the special sciences and opened up an alternative approach to Christian scholarship. Moreover, this is not done in isolation but explicitly in confrontation with the dominant trends of thought within the discipline of law. At the same time he succeeded in advancing a novel and penetrating insight into the deepest dialectical motivation directing modern philosophy since the Renaissance, designated by him as the science ideal (nature) and the personality ideal (freedom). The basic antinomy entailed within this dialectical ground motive of modern humanistic philosophy manifested itself in multiple theoretical antinomies also within the science of law. His new intermodal understanding of theoretical antinomies is equally novel and innovative and it undergirded his analysis of the various sphere sovereign modal aspects of reality. The promise entailed in this Inaugural Address came to fruition in two directions: elaborating his philosophical foundation of the science of law in his multivolume Encyclopedia of the Science of Law and presenting his new insight in the form of a general philosophical account to the academic world – in the publication of his magnum opus, De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee (three volumes in 1935-1936), translated into English in the four volume work, A New Critique of Theoretical Thought (1953-1958). This Inaugural Address may be appreciated as the cradle of his immensely encompassing and penetrating intellectual legacy.

Published

2012-06-29

How to Cite

Strauss, D. F. M. (2012). The place and historical significance of Dooyeweerd’s Inaugural Address of 1926. Tydskrif Vir Christelike Wetenskap | Journal for Christian Scholarship, 48(1-2), 205-221. Retrieved from https://pubs.ufs.ac.za/index.php/tcw/article/view/283

Issue

Section

Artikels | Articles