The Central Commandment of Love in discussion

Abstract

Hierdie artikel beoog om sommige sleutel-kwessies van ? bespreking op Thinknet oor die sentrale liefdegebod en die verhouding daarvan tot verskillende werklikheidsaspekte, in die besonder die sosiale en etiese modale funksies, te ontleed. Die sentrale en rigting-gewende betekenis van die liefdegebod word in ? ryke verskeidenheid modale en tipiese beginsels vergestalt. Aangesien die terme waarmee die sentrale liefdegebod beskryf word teruggevoer kan word na verskeie modale aspekte, is dit nodig om rekenskap te gee van die verskillende wyses waarop dergelike terme gebruik kan word. Deur tussen begripskennis en begripstransenderende kennis te onderskei, is dit moontlik om te verstaan waarom ? sleutelterm soos “liefde” na die kern-sin van die etiese of morele aspek kan verwys en bykomend ook gebruik kan word om na gegewens te verwys wat die grense van hierdie aspek te bowe gaan. Wanneer dít verstaan word is dit nie langer moontlik om te ontken dat die sosiale en etiese aspekte in verhouding tot die sentrale liefdegebod ? gedifferensieerde, periferale en parsiële betekenis besit nie. ? Ontleding van die samehang tussen die sosiale aspek en daardie aspekte wat funderend daarvoor is, konstitueer ? deel van die taak om na te dink oor die elementêre of analogiese grondbegrippe van die sosiologie as wetenskaplike dissipline – ingebed in ? niereduksionistiese ontologie waarby ? oorsigtelike verantwoording van die intermodale samehang tussen die sosiale en etiese aspekte van die werklikheid ingesluit is.

Some of the key issues that surfaced in a recent discussion on Thinknet regarding the meaning of the central commandment of love and its relation to various aspects of reality, in particular the social and ethical modal functions, will be analyzed in this article. In its central and direction-giving meaning the central commandment of love comes to expression in a rich diversity of modal and typical norms and principles. Since the terms used to describe the central commandment of love are located within various modal aspects an account is required of the multiple ways in which they can be employed. By distinguishing between conceptual knowledge and concept-transcending knowledge it is possible to understand why a key term such as “love” may refer to the core meaning of the ethical or moral aspect and also be used to point at realities exceeding the boundaries of this aspect. Once this is understood it is no longer possible to deny the differentiated, peripheral and partial meaning of the social and the moral aspects of reality in relation to the central commandment of love. An analysis of the coherence between the social aspect and those aspects foundational to it constitutes a part of the task of reflecting on the elementary or analogical basic concepts of sociology as an academic discipline–embedded in a non-reductionist ontology and including a brief account of the inter-modal coherence between the social and moral aspects of reality.