A New Critique of Theoretical Thought: The Structures of Individuality of Temporal Reality (Works Series a)

This is the third volume in a series of works by Dooyeweerd. It analyzes the structure of individual totalities, seeks to account for the idea of an entity which cannot be described exhaustively through any abstracted aspect in which it has a function, and discusses the functions of individuality. The idea of an individual whole (technically designated as an individuality-structure) as it is given in concrete everyday experience precedes its theoretical analysis. Dooyeweerd introduces a new insight by distinguishing between what he calls the basic function (foundational function) and the guiding function (qualifying function) of structures of individuality. The scope of this analysis covers natural things, living entities, human beings, human society (undifferentiated societies and a comprehensive structural analysis of the state, church, family, marriage and forms of interlacement within a differentiated society), as well as objectified things in nature and culture.