The genesis of a new conception of the state in the political philosophy of Dooyeweerd

Abstract

Hoewel Dooyeweerd regte studeer het sou sy aandag spoedig verbreed word tot ? studie van die regsfilosofie, die filosofie in die algemeen en veral ook die geskiedenis van die filosofie. Daardeur is hy gekonfronteer met die eensydighede van sowel atomistiese (individualistiese) as holistiese (universalistiese) benaderings wat die ganse geskiedenis van besinning oor staat en samelewing deurkruis. Deur aandag te gee aan die struktuur van tradisionele (ongedifferensieerde) samelewings is Dooyeweerd in staat gestel om rekenskap te gee van die differensiëring van die samelewing en die ontstaan van die moderne staat. Die owerheid se gesag is in ? publiekregtelike amp gesetel wat nie langer as ? heerlike reg (behorende tot die privaatbesit van ? koning) gesien kan word nie. Op die basis van sy nuut-ontwikkelde teorie van modale aspekte het Dooyeweerd vir die eerste keer daarin geslaag om sistematiessamehangend rekenskap te gee van die ryk-geskakeerde wyse waarop die staat as samelewingsvorm in alle aspekte van die werklikheid funksioneer. Hierdie analise is verder verdiep deur die idee van ? funderingsen ? kwalifiseringsfunksie. Met behulp daarvan kon Dooyeweerd ? belynde begrip van die aard van die staat formuleer: die staat is ? publieke regsverband wat op basis van die monopolie van die swaardmag op ? begrensde territorium onder leiding van ? publieke geregtigheids-idee regsbelange saamsnoer in een openbare regsorde. Hierdie omskrywing hang saam met die nuwe tipering wat Dooyeweerd van die aard van die publieke reg en die burgerlike en nie-burgerlike privaatreg gegee het – in diens van ? geartikuleerde strewe om staatsvorming te laat rig deur die idee van ? egte regstaat.

Dooyeweerd commenced as a law-student but soon expanded his intellectual pursuits beyond the boundaries of the science of law. The prevailing schools of thought within the discipline of law helped him to be sceptical about the allegedly purely logical or purely jural nature of the basic concepts of the discipline of law. His novel approach accepted both the uniqueness of the various aspects of reality and their mutual coherence. In articulating his new general theory of modal law-spheres he advanced systematic distinctions which facilitated an understanding of universal modal aspects which are not only modes of being but also modes of explanation. The dominant theories of state and society mainly fluctuated between atomistic (individualistic) and holistic (universalistic) approaches – one-sided views accentuating either a quantitative multiplicity (number) or one or another societal whole of which all the other societal entities are mere parts. Traditional societies need to differentiate before the necessary space is opened up for the rise of the modern state. Nonetheless it did happen that monarchies are sometimes romanticized as the most frequent states while holding on to a view of kingship which does not allow for the office of government as being public in nature. What is unique in Dooyeweerd’s understanding of the state is that it functions within all aspects of reality. Although these aspects are fitted in an irreversible order of succession, something else is needed to account for the typical nature of the state. On the basis of the distinction between modal laws and type laws Dooyeweerd introduces yet another novel systematic distinction, namely the one between the typical foundational function and the typical qualifying function of an entity. As an organized community the public nature of the state is qualified by the jural aspect while having its foundational function in the formation of power (the sword power), i.e. in die cultural-historical aspect of reality. What is unique in his legal and political philosophy is given in the way Dooyeweerd distinguishes between public law on the one hand and civil and non-civil private law on the other. In the final analysis Dooyeweerd’s new appreciation of the structural principle of the state primarily serves to inspire state-formation to observe the inherent sphere-sovereign limits attached to governmental power – the idea of a just state (rechtsstaat).