A New Critique of Theoretical Thought: The General Theory of the Modal Spheres (Dooyeweerd, H. Works. Ser. A, V. 2)

This is the second of four volumes of philosophy by Dooyeweerd. It develops an understanding of properties and functional relations between things, events and societal relationships in reality, subsumed in the general idea of a unique "sphere of laws" or a "law-sphere". Not only are these aspects/lawspheres/modalities of reality unique and irreducible, but 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 lawspheres, 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 Dooyeweerd's theory of knowledge (epistemology), where he raises (even before the analytic philosopher Quine did so) questions about the Kantian distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions.