Introducing The Concept of Time in The Dooyeweerdian Cosmonomic Philosophy: Time As A Structured and Structuring Element of The Whole of Reality

Chapter IV.
Introducing the Concept of Time in Dooyeweerdian Cosmonomic Philosophy: Time as a Structured and
Structuring Element of the Whole of Reality.
Chapter IV
Introducing the Concept of Time in the Dooyeweerdian Cosmonomic Philosophy: Time
as a Structured and Structuring Element of the Whole of Reality
Quid est tempus? Si nemo a me quarat, scio, si quarenti explicari velim nescio.
St. Augustine: Confessions, XI, 17
1. Introduction
Philosophical and scientific research has demonstrated that time and space are deeply related
concepts. In chapter 3, the structure of the observer provides an investigation of the relation
perceiver-surrounding environment. The observer helps in understanding the human
experience of time and space in relation to the surrounding environment with regard to the
important role they play in building the “environmental image, the product both of immediate
sensation and of the memory of past experience” (Lynch 1960, 4). Images of environmental
experience build the system of orientation toward subjective and collective identity that is
proper to the community’s social life. Time is thus a social experience; it is related to spatial
dimensions; and as such, it should be at the core of sustainable environmental and urban
planning.
This chapter is an attempt to go further into the investigation of the concepts examined in
chapter 3. The formal structure of the observer that has been developed in the previous
chapter is analyzed in relation to Herman Dooyeweerd’s concept of time. Why Dooyeweerd?
In chapter 1, three main reasons to approach Dooyeweerd’s philosophy have been suggested:
• Naive experience
• Reality described by a set of modal aspects
• The relevant role of time
Both naive experience and the modal aspects are related to time. In Dooyeweerd’s
cosmonomic philosophy, time plays a grounding role. Time is the leading factor within the
modal order of reality; it is its cause and effect. Reality is described by a set of modalities
(aspects) that are interconnected in a fixed succession of meanings. Reality is thus
multifaceted, and Dooyeweerd provides indications in order to understand it.
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Chapter IV. Introducing the Concept of Time in Dooyeweerdian Cosmonomic Philosophy: Time as a Structured and
The chapter introduces the concept of time in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy. The concept of time
is analyzed in the light of Dooyeweerd’s thought as meaning of the whole existence, as
structured and structuring element at the same time.
This chapter is not exhaustive of the argument. It is aimed at introducing the temporal
dimensions and structures of reality that have been suggested by the Dutch philosopher. A
deeper analysis is provided in chapter 5.
2. Time and Space in Dooyeweerd’s Philosophy: Defining the Concept of Cosmic Time
The concept of time is of great importance in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of reality.

Dooyeweerd introduces the term cosmic time as the basis of the philosophical theory of
reality. The term cosmic indicates an integral character that is mainly given by the two aspects
within which time is definable. These aspects are the law side and the entity side.
Dooyeweerd states, “According to this conception, time in its cosmic sense has a cosmonomic
and a factual side. Its cosmonomic side is the temporal order of succession or simultaneity.
The factual side is the factual duration, which differs with various individualities” (1983,
1:28). In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, time has a well-defined structure—a double-sided
function involving a general level—called cosmic or law side and a more “subjective” level
that is the factual or individuality side. The law side is the immutable structure lying behind
the meaning of each of the fifteen modalities defined within the cosmonomic philosophy. It
gives coherence to all modalities (aspects of reality) of the temporal order of before and after.
In order to describe what role time plays within the law side of reality, Dooyeweerd uses the
simile of a prism that splits light up into distinct modalities, “The light of the sun is refracted
through a prism and this refraction is perceived by the eye of sense in the seven well-known
colours of the spectrum. In themselves all colours are dependent refractions of the unrefracted
light, and none of them can be regarded as an integral of the colour-differentiation. Further,
no one of the seven colours is capable of existing in the spectrum apart from the coherence
with the rest and by the interception of the unrefracted light the entire play of colours vanishes
into nothing. The unrefracted light is the time-transcending totality of meaning of our cosmos
with respect to its cosmonomic side and its subject-side . . . the prism that achieves the
refraction of colours is cosmic time, through which the religious fullness of meaning is
broken up into its temporal modal aspects of meaning” (ibid., 101). This description suggests
time as unifying element. Dooyeweerd describes reality as composed of a set of succeeding
aspects along an invisible temporal line of before and after moments. Reality is thus grounded
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in time; it has a temporal-dynamic character that is defined by the compound terms before and
after. The approach to reality proposed by Dooyeweerd is multiaspectual and dynamic. It is a
cosmic temporal reality.
In order to clarify Dooyeweerd’s view of reality, an analysis of its structure is required. As

suggested, Dooyeweerd defines reality as ruled by cosmic time, which is composed of the law
side and the entity side. The law side of cosmic time represents the temporal horizon of
human experience (Dooyeweerd 1940). The entity side of cosmic time is defined by
Dooyeweerd as a flowing continuum, a continuous mutual fusion of moments, acts, and
events. It is duration, the awareness of passing by and succession of events. Within the entity
side of cosmic time, the human being becomes aware of change.
In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, time has two opposite aspects: one fixed and immutable, the
law side; the other one flowing and variable, the entity side. The diversity and contraposition
between these two sides are indications of the complexity of the concept of time. Cosmic time
as an immutable structure is to be reconnected to the existence of a superior order, which is
not dependent upon human will and which gives coherence to temporal reality. In order to
clarify this concept, Dooyeweerd uses the simile of an embroidery1 where all the threads of
different colours run through each other in order to give form to a specific woof. The cloth of
the embroidery is a fixed structure on which a specific subject is woven.
This simile can be descriptive of reality. At first sight, a piece of plain cloth may not seem
very interesting—just a simple structure of crossed threads. This structure is but necessary for
embroidering; through embroidering it finds its final definition. No embroidery can take form
if not supported by a piece of cloth. The cloth is the horizon of the embroidery. It is possible
to think about temporal reality as a developing embroidery. Reality is supported by a fixed
structure, which is hidden behind what is usually called environment. This structure is
invisible at first sight; it is revealed only through experience of reality itself. Reality can be
seen as a constant interlacement of different threads (modalities). The simile of the
embroidery helps in clarifying what Dooyeweerd intended for cosmic time. The law side of
1
Dooyeweerd used the simile of an embroidery during his last interview in 1975 with reference to the
interlacement of the various spheres of life. He said, “This is really just like when you look at the wrong side of a
piece of embroidery; you become confused by the tangled threads that run through each other, but when you
have the embroidery properly in front of you, you see the pattern that continues to reveal itself even in the
interweaving of the various structures” (van Dunné and Heerma van Voss 1977, 51).
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cosmic time is the fixed temporal structure supporting the interlacement of modalities and
giving coherence to them. It is the environment in which human beings live and act.
The entity side of cosmic time is defined by the succession of events, facts; and it resides in
the continuous interlacement of modalities which give form to reality. Subjective experience
of temporal reality is disclosed within this continuous flowing, manifesting itself through
change (changing of the embroidery through continuous embroidering). The difference
between the two sides of reality indicates that time, in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, has a static
(simultaneous) as well as a dynamic character. Dooyeweerd defines them as the simultaneous
and the before and after character, which are to be found in each modality. A deeper
investigation of these two characters is provided in the following chapters. The
Dooyeweerdian simile of the embroidery helps in clarifying two main concepts:
• The two sides of cosmic time, the law side and the entity side, are interconnected and
cannot be considered as separated.
• Time is disclosed by human beings only through experience (naive experience and
theoretical experience).
As suggested in chapter 3, time and space are related aspects of reality. What is space in
Dooyeweerd’s philosophy? In his article “The Problem of Time in the Philosophy of the Law-
Idea,” Dooyeweerd wrote, “Now one of the most deeply rooted presuppositions of the current
view of time is that time only reveals itself in motion and in change. In this way, time and
space are set over against each other, whether as equal in value and sharply distinguished
ordering schemas of experienceable reality that are already related to each other in movement
. . . ” (ibid., 164–65).
In philosophical and mathematical studies and, in particular, in the theory of relativity, time
and space cannot be separated2 as time is considered the fourth dimension of space.
Dooyeweerd wrote, “The view of time as a fourth dimension would then only be a
perspectival-mathematical way of understanding, which could in part be explained from the
circumstance that the general theory of relativity has accepted the transmission of light as the
physical measurer of time and thereby has accepted the ray of light for time itself” (ibid.,
165). He stated that the relation between space and time in relativity depended on the problem
of measurement of time. In physics, space is a three-dimensional manifold; and time is a one-
2
See section 2, chapter 3.
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dimensional continuum. Events in the universe are described as having a space-time location,
being characterized by x, y, z, t coordinates. In the theory of special relativity, time is divided
into coordinate time or real time, and proper time. Proper time is also called clock time or
process time, a measure of the amount of the physical process that a system undergoes. The
motion of a system through space is directly compensated by a decrease in real internal
processes or proper time rates.
Following the theory of special relativity, space and time (coordinate time) are set off against
each other; and their mutual relation is measured by proper time (clock time) that becomes,
thus, a measure through movement. Space, time, and proper time are three distinct quantities;
and the measure of time occurs outside of time itself. Following the theory of special
relativity, space is atemporal; and time is separated from space. Dooyeweerd asserted that
such an opposition between time and space leads to contradictions. He opposed the view of
classical physics on the nontemporality of space by asserting that “on the contrary, time
appeared to be a necessary presupposition in the definition of space itself, whereas it was
evident that one could not really define time itself. Rather in this supposed definition of time
we are only able to mathematically approach the modal aspect of movement in which time is
again presupposed” (ibid., 166). By this assumption, Dooyeweerd suggests space as being
presupposed by time. In his thinking, time and space are one part of the other. Following
Dooyeweerd’s thinking, the theory of relativity does not provide the correct definition of the
relation of space and time.
In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, the deep connection of time with space is to be found within the
modal order of reality itself. Dooyeweerd defined a set of fifteen3 modalities in order to
describe the surrounding temporal reality. These modalities, also called aspects, succeed in a
specific, not casual, order. Each modality is related to the previous and the following ones by
retrocipation and anticipation functions. Such functions define the mutual temporal
coherence existing within the modal order. Dooyeweerd defines them analogical concepts4;
they make a modality to be anticipated in the previous one and to anticipate the following one.
3
At the period he wrote his article “The Problem of Time in the Philosophy of the Law-Idea,” he had defined
fourteen modalities; the physical and biotic modalities were not yet distinguished.
4
The term analogical refers to the mutual interrelations among modalities. In 1954 Dooyeweerd wrote, “Every
aspect of experience expresses within its modal structure the entire temporal order and connection of all the
aspects . . . it can express the nucleus of meaning of the aspect only in connection with a series of analogical
moments of meaning which refer back to the nuclei of meaning of all the earlier aspects and, on the other hand,
point forward to the nuclei of meaning of all the later ones” (1954, 2).
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The analogical functions of anticipation and retrocipation define the interlacement of

modalities. Following this principle, later modalities are structured on the early ones.
The spatial modality is the second from the lower structured one in the modal order of
reality5. Dooyeweerd asserts that
now whenever the difference between time and space is represented as a continuous
flowing of succeeding moments of equal duration over against a static continuous
extensiveness, then it is clear that the concept of motion is included in the concept of
flowing. For its part, such movement is only possible in time. And in the concept of
static continuous extensiveness, there is hidden the idea of spatial simultaneity, which
presupposes time just as much. Moreover, simultaneity is possible not only in the
static sense of space, but just as much, although in a different way, in the modal
meaning of movement, in that of organic life, in that of feeling, in that of logical
analysis, in that of historical development....in all these modalities, as we shall see,
spatial simultaneity is presupposed. (1940, 166)
Despite space is presupposed by time, this assumption indicates that, in Dooyeweerd’s

thought, time is different from space. Following the philosopher’s thinking, time is defined by
a continuous flowing of succeeding moments while space is characterized by a static
continuous extensiveness. This means that time is dynamic while space is static. The static
character of space is to be read in relation to the flowing of time. Dooyeweerd asserted that in
the concept of static continuous extensiveness, that is proper of space, is hidden the idea of
spatial simultaneity, which presupposes time just as much. This means that the simultaneous
character of space changes with respect to the succeeding moment. Time flowing defines a
succession of simultaneities, which describe specific situations at specific moments. The
following figure can help in clarifying the relation between space and time in Dooyeweerd’s
thinking:
5
In his article “The Analogical Concepts” written in 1954, Dooyeweerd refers to the following modalities:
quantity, spatiality, movement, energetic effect, organic life, feeling, logical distinction, historical or cultural
development, symbolical meaning, social commerce, economic valuation, aesthetic, juridical, moral ways of
experiencing, faith.
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simultaneity
time flowing
Succession of simultaneities = motion
Figure 1: relation between time and space. (Source: author’s elaboration)
The yellow semicircles represent space. Space is defined as a spatial simultaneity, which does
not remain the same, but rather, it succeeds along the red temporal line by assuming different
characters. Space is simultaneity just with reference to a specific temporal moment. It is
possible to define the difference between time and space by using the simile of the picture and
the movie. Space is like a picture, a fixed image. It describes a situation as fixed in a specific
temporal moment (the moment of taking the picture). It describes simultaneous existing
conditions. On the contrary, time is like a movie. It is a continuity flowing through the
succession of pictures, the succession of images. The relation between the picture and the
movie is evident. Time is related to space by motion. The succession of spatial simultaneities
along the temporal line defines the movement of a certain situation toward another one. This
movement implies change. The simultaneity moves along the temporal line; and by changing,
it turns into another simultaneity. In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, space is at the ground of the
modal order. The spatial simultaneity is evident in all modalities following space within the
modal order. This implies the relation between space and time described in figure 1,
characterizes the entire modal order. In the light of these considerations, the red temporal line
(figure 1) represents the succession of before and after moments that define the succession of
modalities. Each modality following space has, thus, a simultaneous as well as a before and
after (dynamic) character. Following Dooyeweerd’s thinking, each modality is an aspect
defining the space-time of reality. The modal order represents the Dooyeweerdian space-time.
As defined by Dooyeweerd, the nucleus of meaning of the spatial aspect is extension (1954).
In Dooyeweerd’s terminology, a nuclei of meaning is what gives that aspect its domain or
sphere sovereignty (1947). The nuclei of meaning defines the aspectual identity and
individuality of each modality with respect to all the others. Following the analogical function
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of retrocipation, the spatial modality is structured on the previous one, which is the numerical
one. The list of aspects defined by Dooyeweerd has been provided in chapter 1 (table 1).
Numbers and quantity provide the measure of space, which gives the idea of the extensiveness
of space itself. Similarly, the spatial modality anticipates the following modalities in the
analogical function. This means that the spatial modality contains echoes of the nuclei of
meaning defining the following modalities. Within the modal order, Dooyeweerd defined a
physical space, a biological space, a space of sensory perception, a formal analytical space, a
juridical space, an economic space, etc. Space is structured on the numerical aspect, and it is
grounding for all the following modalities.
All these considerations can be described by the following figure:
Figure 2: the pyramid of experience. (Source: author’s elaboration)
The above figure is called the pyramid of experience. It represents the succession of
modalities from the numerical to that of faith. The simile of a reversed pyramid indicates the
increasing complexity of modalities through their ordered succession. The spatial modality is
anticipated in the numerical one, which is structured on numerical relations (Dooyeweerd
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1940). The spatial modality anticipates that of movement, which in its turn anticipates the
physical modality and so on until the faith modality. The modal order is thus like a chain
whose rings (modalities) are interconnected. The reversed pyramid in figure 2 indicates that
the succession of modalities within the modal order is an increasing relation. This means that
each movement from a modality toward the one that follows adds information to the modal
structure. If compared to figure 1, the pyramid of reality suggests the following
considerations:
• The succession of simultaneities along the temporal line of before and after represents
the succession of aspects within the modal order.
• The succession of modalities is defined by movement. Through movement the modal
order is structured.
• Each aspect is defined by a simultaneous and a dynamic character at the same time.
• Simultaneity defines modalities in their individuality as result of a before and after
relation. This relation is possible by means of the analogical functions (anticipation
and postponing of modalities).
The following graphical representation helps in clarifying these concepts:
B = A elaborated
by C Aspect =
simultaneity
C
Analogical
movement
from A to B.
Before and
A
after
character
Figure 3: the structuring relation of before and after simultaneity. (Source: author’s elaboration)
The simultaneous character of each modality is an individual aspectual characteristic. Because

of its being related to time, the space defining each modality changes through the succession
of modalities itself. The analogical functions determine the structure of each modality as
being grounded in the previous ones. Figure 3 is a simple description of the existing relation
between two succeeding aspects. The reversed pyramid in figure 2 indicates modalities as
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being more and more complex from the bottom (numerical aspect) to the top of the modal
order (faith aspect).
Dooyeweerd defines reality as a succession of modalities. This means that, in his thinking,
reality is to be described by a space-time system of interconnected aspects succeeding in an
ordered way. Dooyeweerd provides a multiaspectual approach to reality, which is grounded in
space and time. A further explanation of the modalities and their function is provided in
chapter 5.
Following Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, time reveals itself in the spatial modality as continuous
extension. This is the temporal meaning of the spatial aspect. The compound term temporal
meaning indicates the dynamic character of each modality. In order to clarify this concept, we
can refer to figure 3. Let us suppose A be the spatial aspect and B be the kinematic aspect. The
simultaneous character of A is extensiveness. This means that space is an extension measured
by numbers and quantities (space is grounded in the numerical aspect). Continuous extension,
the temporal meaning of space, indicates that in the passage from the spatial to the kinematic
aspect, the spatial character of the modal order continuously extends by changing. With
reference to figure 3, extensiveness is in the spatial aspect (the yellow box), while continuous
extension is outside of it (the blue arrow). The dynamic character of the spatial modality
structures the kinematic aspect whose nuclei of meaning is movement. In its turn, the dynamic
character of the kinematic aspect—that is, the succession of movement—structures the
physical aspect and so on until it reaches the faith aspect.
The relation between numerical, spatial, and movement modalities can be described by the
following figure:
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Analogical moments of
anticipation
earlier
later
Analogical moments of
posticipation
Numerical Spatial Movement

modality modality modality
Figure 4: temporal modal order. (Source: author’s elaboration)
The temporal relation earlier and later expresses the succession through time of modalities
that are placed in a specific order of before and after. While the terms before and after seem to
be static to express the order within which modalities are defined, earlier and later refer to the
deepest relation of consequence and continuity existing between modalities. In other terms,
before and after represent the dynamic characteristics defining modalities in an earlier and
later temporal succession. With reference to the simultaneous and dynamic character defining
each modality, figure 4 suggests the following considerations:
• The nucleus of meaning of the numerical modality is quantity and numbers. The
numerical modality has no simultaneous character as it provides a succession of pure
numbers. This modality is pure before and after.
• The spatial modality is structured on the dynamic character of the numerical one. Its
simultaneous (S) character depends on the simultaneous existence of several numbers
defining space (length and breadth, height). The before and after (B.A.) character of
the spatial modality resides outside the modality itself; it resides in the movement
toward the kinematic aspect.
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• The kinematic modality is grounded in the numerical aspect (pure B.A.) and in the
spatial aspect (pure S.). Therefore, the kinematic modality has a simultaneous as well
as a dynamic character.
The suggested considerations about the S and BA characters of modalities help in clarifying
how the modal order was conceived by the Dutch philosopher. These concepts are grounding
in building the framework that this thesis proposes for sustainable urban planning. On the S
and BA characters, the study provides the definition of a set of temporal issues. They are
aimed at describing each modality as a changing aspect in the systemic urban evolution
through time (see chapter 7 and chapter 8).
In an article that appeared in 1954 in the Revue Letterkunde New Series, Dooyeweerd wrote
about “a problem that has yet been largely ignored but which involves nevertheless the
foundations of all the special sciences without exception. I refer to the nature and the mutual
interrelationship of the elementary basic concepts which the various special sciences employ
without giving an account of their peculiar meaning and mutual connections” (1954, 3).
Dooyeweerd refers to the analogical moments of anticipation and posticipation (postponing),
which connect modalities, giving them coherence and continuity just as rings in a chain.
These functions are grounding in the philosophy of the law idea that was based on the idea of
the divine world order as lex aeterna. In Dooyeweerd’s thought, the divine world order gives
coherence to the system of laws defining reality. It means that reality is composed of a set of
modalities ruled by proper laws as specific fields of science. These modalities, and by
consequence their proper laws, are related in a coherent way by cosmic time, which finds its
origin in the divine. Reality is characterized by spatial laws, kinematic laws, physical laws,
biological laws, social laws, etc. All these laws define specific fields, which are only
apparently separated. Their interrelation is coherence along the temporal axis. Figure 1 can
help in clarifying this concept. Each yellow semicircle is a modality defining a specific field
of laws. All these modalities succeed along the red temporal line in an ordered way (the
numerical, the spatial, the kinematic, the physical, etc.). The coherence characterizing the
entire modal order is given by the analogical functions of anticipation and postponing
between modalities. Each modality is grounded in the previous ones, and each modality
anticipates the following ones. This mutually structures modalities along the red temporal
line. Time flowing gives the coherence to the entire modal order by structuring space.
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Dooyeweerd’s idea of coherence has a religious ground. This thesis is aimed at providing an
application of the concepts developed by Dooyeweerd in urban planning. The idea of the
divine world order suggests reality being organized in a harmonic way and ruled by a superior
law.
This divine law gives coordination to all modal laws; it provides unity through diversity. If
applied to urban planning, the idea of a superior law suggests the existence of an ideal
harmonic evolution through which urban settlements become sustainable. Given that the
fifteen modalities are descriptive of reality, urban contexts can be defined as modal systems
whose evolution is visible through space and time. For them to evolve harmonically means
following Dooyeweerd’s thinking—to maintain their systemic unity by preserving their modal
diversity. This suggests that in harmonic (sustainable) urban contexts, all aspects should
maintain their analogical functions of anticipation and postponing.
As suggested in chapter 2, sustainable development requires an integrated time-oriented

approach. For the reasons exposed in this section, Dooyeweerd’s philosophy provides a valid
ground for such an approach.
3. The Theory of Man and the Concept of Naive Experience in the Philosophy of the
Law Idea
Dooyeweerd’s philosophy conceives reality as described by a set of interrelated aspects.

Reality is experienced by the human being; it is a temporal experience that is disclosed
through the senses as well as through reason. As suggested in chapter 1, Dooyeweerd defined
two levels of human experience. They are the sensitive level and the theoretical level. The
human being plays an important role within the modal order. Through the experience of the
surrounding environment, mankind evolves and acts. This section introduces Dooyeweerd’s
theory of man. In chapter 3, the observer has suggested an approach to the analysis of the
relation of man-environment. This relation is based on a continuous exchange of stimulus
between the human being or the observer, and the surrounding environment or the observed.
Dooyeweerd’s theory describes man as a system of physical and psychological relations
acting in a space-time system—reality.
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Dooyeweerd based his theory of man on four ground-motives whose introduction is provided
in the following subsections.
3.1 Ground-Motives and the Relation Between Soul and Body in the Light of
Dooyeweerd’s Theory of Man
Dooyeweerd defines the task of anthropological philosophy as “an analysis of human bodily
existence as an enkaptic structural whole, directed by the central ground motive of western
revelation” (Blosser 1993, 194). Following his thinking, the human being is formed of a
physical body—an enkaptic structural whole—and a soul directing it. Dooyeweerd asserted
that “enkapsis takes place, when one structure of individuality restrictively binds a second
structure…without destroying the peculiar character of the latter” (1983, 3:125). The term
enkaptic, as related to the human body, indicates that the body is structured as a system whose
composing elements (psychochemical, biotic, psychic, act, and soul) are bound. Such an
enkaptic connection provides unity by means of the diversity of the five composing elements.
In Dooyeweerd’s thought, the human being is defined by a system of five aspects in an
ordered succession. This system is defined by Dooyeweerd as the soul-body act structure.
Before analyzing the soul-body act structure and its functioning, a short introduction of the
four ground-motives, the bedrocks of the western philosophy, are required. They help in
clarifying Dooyeweerd’s theory of man and, by consequence, the relation of man-surrounding
environment.
At the beginning of the forties, Dooyeweerd defined thirty-two propositions on anthropology

that were first published in December 1942 in Correspondentie-Bladen7, a Dutch review.
Through these propositions, he provided some considerations on the figure of man and the
dualism soul-body that have influenced western anthropology through centuries. In particular,
Dooyeweerd defined the following four presuppositions or ground-motives that he considered
to have dominated the evolution of western scientific thought6 (1979, 15):
• The Greek form-matter motive
• The Scriptural ground-motive of the Christian religion, creation, fall, and redemption
through Jesus Christ (motive of Hebrew thought)
• The Romantic motive of nature and grace (motive of medieval Roman Catholicism)
6
These ground motives have been introduced in chapter one note 7.
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• The modern-humanistic motive of nature and freedom, including the natural-scientific

determination ideal and the personality ideal of free autonomous self-determination
(motive of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and modern times)
These ground-motives have influenced western scientific thinking in particular anthropology,

and they constituted a basis for Dooyeweerd’s work. Dooyeweerd asserted that “the
development of western culture has been controlled by several religious ground motives.
These motives acquired their central influence upon the historical development of mankind
via certain cultural powers which, over the centuries, successively gained leadership in the
historical process” (ibid., 9). In the New Critique of Theoretical Thought, volume 1,
Dooyeweerd describes the above-mentioned four motives in a paragraph titled “The influence
of the dialectical Ground–motives upon the philosophical conception of time” (1983, 1:25).
In order to clarify what influence these ground motives had on his philosophy of the law idea,
in particular on the time aspect, a brief description of the main aspects for each of them is
provided:
• The matter-form motive of the ancient Greek. In the New Critique, Dooyeweerd
describes the Greek motive of form and matter by quoting Aristotle. He writes, “Even
in Classical Greek thought this view was entangled in a falsely posed dilemma,
whether time has a subjective mental or rather an objective physical character. In the
brief treatise that Aristotle devotes to this question in his Physics IV 10, 217 b 29ff, he
develops the conception that time is the measure, the number or rather the
numerability, of motion . . . ” (ibid.) Following Aristotle’s thinking, motion is the
striving of matter after form, a flowing plurality of earlier and later as long as matter
has not attained its form. This succession is but a unified flowing as earlier and later
describe separate conditions of matter. Only the subjective act of counting can give
unity to these plurality of separated moments. Following Aristotle’s thinking, time
exists within the soul as it cannot find coherence outside of it.
Anaximander, on the contrary, as an old Ionian-nature philosopher, viewed time as a divine

order of diké (whose English translation is expressed by the word “justice”). It was the spirit
of moral order and fair judgment based on immemorial custom. Dooyeweerd wrote, “The
Ionian thinkers made no difference between the physical and the mental spheres. According to
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them, Matter was animated. Aristotle, on the contrary, held that psyché is the form of the
material body and that matter is only a potentiality. It cannot have actual being without a form
which guarantees the unity of being” (ibid., 1:26). Dooyeweerd was influenced by Aristotle’s
thinking. For the Dutch philosopher, the human being is defined by two spheres in a form-
matter relation. They are the psychical sphere—the form of the body—and the physical
sphere—the matter of the body. The matter, he asserted, is the potentiality of the form.
Following this thought, the psychical sphere is enclosed in the human soul, while the physical
one is enclosed in the body. Asserting that the body is the potentiality of the soul means
asserting that the soul drives the body in its evolution. Each soul is enkaptically connected to
its body. The relation soul-body introduces the concept of identity. This concept is analyzed
further in the present section.
For the ancient Greek’s philosophy of nature, time was cyclical. Out of the formless, cyclical
stream of life emerged the individual forms of plants, beasts, and men, which then matured,
perished, and came to life again (Dooyeweerd 1979, 16). Life stream ceaselessly repeated its
cycle and returned to itself, and all that had individual form was doomed to disappear.
The philosophy of form within the ancient Greek culture, on the contrary, recognized the
existence of a number of deities having specific personalities whose home was Mount
Olympus. This new religious thinking was connected to the ancient philosophy of matter by
the role played by the deity Moira who represented the inexorable fate revealing itself in the
cycle of life (ibid.). Moira was the fate that assigned to each of the three most important
Olympian deities a share or realm: the heavens to Zeus, the sea to Poseidon, and the
underworld to Haden (Pluto). Moira was a principle of order, witness of the existence of a
kind of design instead of a blind fate.
These opposed views on time related to form, matter, and movement created a duality within
the Greek thinking, an internal dualism that drove thought to opposite directions or polar
opposites7.
7
Dooyeweerd introduced the term polar opposites in his work Roots of the Western Cultures . In the paragraph
titled “The Religious Dialectic,” he asserted, “Four religious ground motives have clashed in western history.
Three are internally dualistic and fragmentary. Their discord pushes one’s posture of life to opposite extremes
that cannot be resolved in a true synthesis. We call these extremes ‘polar opposites’ because they are two
spiritually ‘charged’ poles that collide within a single ground motive. Each pole bears the seed of religious
dialectic” (1979, 10).
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The irreconcilable conflict between form and matter religions within the Greek culture created
a dialectic tension. Such a tension was seen by the Greek philosopher as the main cause of the
nature of things. In ancient philosophy, form and matter are indissolubly connected. They
presuppose each other through the definition of a superior divine order Moira as being
originated by an older, impersonal, and formless divine power. Time is a continuous tension
between form and matter. Time is the primordial order giving power to deities (Moira), but it
is also the succession of earlier and later deriving by the subjective act of counting.
• The creation-fall-redemption motive of the Hebrew thought

The second ground-motive, which shaped the development of western culture, was that of the
religious creation, fall, and redemption. In particular, the motive of creation is identified with
the divine Word-revelation through which God reveals himself as “the absolute, complete and
integral origin of things” (ibid., 28–9). This revelation introduced the question about man and
his fundamental relationship to his Creator. As man was created in God’s image, God
revealed himself to man in the Christian-root unity that is the essence of temporal life. The
Christian unity is disclosed within the human soul and spirit, and all temporal life finds its
coherence only within the human soul. The heart is the centre of the human religious life; it is
the essence of the temporal existence.
The Christian motive of creation gives the human figure an important role, placing it at the
centre of God’s work. The human being completes the temporal life; nature does not exist
outside of man as grasping the pure concept of nature requires an abstraction from a given
reality. Such an abstraction is a human, logical attitude.
The motive of fall represents the lost of human self-knowledge that is, according to the Holy
Scripture, completely dependent on true knowledge of God. By the sin, man separates his soul
from God’s revelation, causing a radical split. Through Christ’s redemptive work, this split is
definitely restored.
Following the religious ground-motive of creation, fall, and redemption, man is the centre of
religious and temporal life; and each human act is a temporal expression of a supratemporal
religious root. The soul, being the heart of temporal existence, is not subjected to temporal
death, while the body is. In the Scripture, there is no dichotomy between soul and body as
they both are expressions of the temporal life.
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Dooyeweerd was deeply influenced by the Christian ground-motive. In his philosophy, the
human being plays a relevant role. He is characterized by the soul in which his religious root
resides. The soul is eternal, while the body is subject to temporal death. Human action resides
in the soul. If considered under a secular point of view, the concept of human action residing
in the eternal soul suggests the idea of long-term effects depending on the action. This
concept is not strange to sustainable development.
• The nature-grace motive of medieval Roman Catholic

The nature-grace ground motive was a synthesis of the matter-form and creation-fall-
redemption ground motives. It was based on a dualism that opposed the realm of the world,
represented by nature, to that of God, represented by grace. Such a dichotomy caused lots of
problems within the social and cultural situation during the medieval Roman Catholicism as it
rent reality in twain. This made thinkers to focus one aspect or the other (the realm of nature
or the realm of grace) without finding a connection between them. This dual character of
nature-grace ground motive, although being derived directly from Greek thinking and
religious ground motive, contributed to amplify the split between God and the temporal
surrounding world, between soul and body.
The nature-grace motive changed the vision of time. It was not cyclical or subjective through
the act of counting, but rather, it is external to the human soul and body. The nature-grace
ground motive influenced Dooyeweerd’s philosophy in the search for a unitary approach that
could overcome this rupture.
• The nature-freedom motive of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and modern times

The fourth ground–motive shaping the development of western culture was the nature–
freedom motive of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Modern Times. This basic motive
was characterized by an inner philosophical dialectic that drove thoughts to opposite and,
sometimes, conflicting directions. Thanks to the development of Einstein’s theory of
relativity, time was seen as directly related to motion. Important thinkers of this period left a
great contribution. Immanuel Kant, Alfred Einstein, Henri Bergson, Martin Heidegger, and
Dilthey wrote about time, space, and human being (Dooyeweerd 1983, 1:27).
Kant viewed time as a transcendental form of intuition of sense experience as well as space to
which it is coordinated. In his Critique of the Pure Reason, the first part is titled
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“Transcendental Aesthetic.” It is aimed at demonstrating the existence of a synthetic a priori

knowledge of space and time of outer and inner experience that is grounded in subjective pure
intuition of space and time. Kant argues that spatiality and temporality are only forms in
which objects appear to us and not properties of objects as they are in themselves. Kant
defines space and time as pure forms of intuition as well as pure intuitions. They are forms of
intuition because they must precede and structure all experience of individual outer objects
and inner states, and they are intuitions because they represent single individuals rather than
classes of things (Guyer 1998–2004).
Henri Bergson defined time as “the physical duration of feeling, in which we immediately
enjoy a living experience of the creative freedom of the élan vitale (inaccessible to natural-
scientific thought). This actual durée is of inner psychical character and lacks mathematical
uniformity of successive parts. All moments here penetrate one another qualitatively”
(Dooyeweerd 1983, 1:27). This vision of time is directly related to human subjective
experience manifesting itself through the succession of temporal moments.
The fourth ground-motive contains many concepts that were developed by Dooyeweerd. As
suggested in section 2, the concept of space and time as shaping reality is at the ground of the
modal order. In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, time and space are experienced by the human
being through the soul-body act structure, which is the human soul and body reunited through
action and experience of the surrounding environment.
To sum up, the four ground motives influence Dooyeweerd’s theory of man for the following
aspects:
• The form-matter ground motive proposes the existence of the body as potentiality of
the soul. The soul and the body are enkaptically related. This indicates that each body
is potentially shaped by its related soul in the individual sphere. The concept of
individuality introduces that of identity.
• The religious ground motive of creation-fall-redemption defines the soul as eternal and
the body as subject to temporal death. Action resides in the soul, and it is disclosed by
the body.
• The nature-grace ground motive focuses on the split between the soul and the body.
Time is external to them as the soul and the body are not enkaptically related. This
concept of separation made Dooyeweerd feels the need for a unitary approach.
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• The nature-freedom ground motive focuses the concept of time as related to motion.
Time is a sense experience as well as space. These concepts have been developed in
Dooyeweerd’s cosmonomic philosophy.
The above-mentioned four ground motives as “spiritual driving force that acts as the
absolutely central mainspring of human society” (ibid., 1979, 9) were bedrocks in
Dooyeweerd’s theory of time as well as in his theory of man.
The dualities and the opposite conceptions and visions of man and time, which emerged in
past ancient cultures and are still present in modern times convinced Dooyeweerd that there
was a need for a change of direction, a need for a philosophy that could help in considering
time as unifying factor of all aspects of reality. The main limit Dooyeweerd recognized to past
western culture was that of having allowed splits among aspects of reality that should have
been considered as parts of a wide and whole system.
In developing his cosmonomic philosophy, Dooyeweerd was influenced by past cultures. In

particular, in the first period of his philosophy, he was influenced by Kant’s thought. In the
foreword to the first edition of A New Critique of Theoretical Thought, Dooyeweerd asserts,
“Originally I was strongly under the influence first of the Neokantian philosophy, later on of
Husserl’s phenomenology. The great turning point in my thought was marked by the
discovery of the religious root of thought itself, whereby a new light was shed on the failure
of all attempts, including my own, to bring about an inner synthesis between the Christian
faith and a philosophy which is rooted in faith in the self-sufficiency of human reason”
(1983,5).
As introduced at the beginning of this section, Dooyeweerd’s theory of man is summarized in

thirty-two propositions. These are anthropological reflections on the role of man within his
surrounding temporal world. Dooyeweerd’s main attempt was to clarify the relation of soul-
body in human existence in order to demonstrate that being human means being an undivided
whole (Blosser 1993).
Dooyeweerd completely redefined the body-soul relation in order to restore the functional
unity to the person and unite these functions within the temporal bodily existence of man. His
aim was to reconnect the rupture caused by the Greek and Scholastic thinking.
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In his seventh proposition on anthropology, Dooyeweerd states that “the actual scientific
knowledge about man remains limited to the structure of the human body taken in the broad
sense of the temporal form of human existence. Philosophical inquiry concerning man’s
temporal existence, however, ought to be directed by an Idea of the human soul which relates
God’s revelation concerning the root of human existence to the basic problem of
anthropology. This fundamental theoretical problem can be formulated as follows: how can
man’s temporal existence, theoretically set apart in its different aspects and individuality
structures, nevertheless be grasped in its fundamental unity?” (Dooyeweerd, 32 Propositions
on Anthropology). This question was the starting point of Dooyeweerd’s theory of man, and it
is the ground of the concept of naive and theoretical experience.
Dooyeweerd’s anthropology is based on the scriptural idea of the human soul as the integral
religious root of the whole of man’s temporal existence. This means that the human soul is the
centre, the heart of human religious life. The body is not a separated entity. As suggested at
the beginning of section 3, the human body is defined by Dooyeweerd as an enkaptically
structured whole, an intertwinement of four individuality structures—four aspects giving
form to the body itself:
1. The psychochemical aspect is the lower structure. It concerns the chemical
compound of the human body.
2. The biotic or vegetative aspect is the second structure. It concerns the living cells
and the biological combinations that govern the vegetative body processes.
3. The psychic or instinctive structure concerns the feeling functions.
4. The act structure of the human body is the nearest aspect to soul.
The act structure is related to human acting. It is the most important structure as, by acting,
man reveals his entire “body form” and his essence that are characterized by knowing,
imaging, and willing. Acting is the motivated process of decision making.
Dooyeweerd asserts that the process of action is possible only in the unity of soul and body.
Acts have origin in the soul as the centre of spiritual life, and they take place within the body
by means of their temporal structure. The soul and the body constitute a unified, temporally
structured system. The temporality of the system is given by the enkaptic relation between the
aspects, manifesting itself through anticipation and postponing processes. The following
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figure helps in clarifying the concept of enkaptic/analogical relation between the individuality
structures—bodily aspects—that give form to the human body.
Figure 5: the temporal-acting body. (Source: author’s elaboration)
Figure 5 represents the temporal acting body. The above-represented Vitruvian man was
created by Leonardo da Vinci around 1487. It was a mathematical drawing aimed at
correlating man to nature. Leonardo was interested in the geometrical concept of proportion,
and he considered man as the measure of the cosmos. The human body was the expression of
the unity of the cosmos; by means of the bodily proportions, which gave origin to the golden
ratio, space was measured and built.
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In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, man is a well-organized and structured whole. The concept of

proportion is enclosed in the concept of the existing harmonic relation between the aspects,
that is given by their enkaptical connection. In Dooyeweerd’s thinking, the human being is the
measure of the reality by means of the naive and theoretical experiences. The concept of
structure is of great importance in Dooyeweerd’s theory of man. He emphasizes the unity of
the human nature as “a structural wholeness . . . the human body is man himself in the
structural whole of his temporal appearance” (1983, 3:89).
Figure 5 represents the schematization of the temporal-acting structure composed by the

human body and connected to the soul. All human actions have origin in the soul and are
displayed within and by means of the temporal body. The human temporal body cannot exist
as separated from the soul. The temporality of the human body resides in the mutual relation
existing between each of the four structures. This relation is given by the mutual dependence
existing from the lower-level structure, the psychochemical one, to the highest level, the act
structure. This implies that the lower level presupposes the higher ones, while the higher ones
contain in themselves elements and principles deriving from the previous ones. The defined
succession of level, in the succession of before and after moments of intertwining levels, is
the temporal aspect of the soul-body act structure (this relation is graphically represented in
figure 1). The corporeal-act structure has no temporal qualifying function. Dooyeweerd says,
“This act structure, though it functions in all of the modal aspects, lacks, as such, a typical
qualifying function within a temporal sphere . . . the ac-structure of the human body is the
immediate temporal expression of the human I-ness, which transcends the cosmic temporal
order” (ibid., 88). This indicates that, although the human being has a temporal body
structure, the temporal horizons of his acting body-soul structure lie outside of it, within the
modal-temporal order of surrounding reality. This implies a deep relation existing between
man and his surrounding environment.
If related to the structure of the observer proposed in chapter 3, the soul-body acting structure
suggests useful considerations. The next subsection provides a comparison between the
Dooyeweerdian structure and that of the observer.
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3. 2 Time Experience in Dooyeweerd’s Philosophy: A Comparison of the Soul-Body

Acting Temporal Structure with the Structure of the Observer.
In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, the concept of time experience is of great importance. In A New

Critique, he asserts that “in the naive pre-theoretical attitude of experience we have an
immediate integral experience of cosmic time in the uninterrupted coherence of its modal
aspects, inclusive of the normative ones, and in concentric relatedness to the selfhood” (ibid.,
1:33). Naive experience is a pretheoretical human attitude through which the human being
comes into an immediate contact with the surrounding temporal reality.
The term naive indicates a sensory experience that leads to the whole understanding of the
temporal reality. The definition of naive experience has been provided in chapter 1.
Dooyeweerd wrote, “The implicit experience of normative aspects of the temporal order in
the notion of being too late is one of the most evident indications of the integral character of
the naive consciousness of time” (ibid.). Naive experience is the perception of the surrounding
temporal reality by means of the soul–body acting structure. As suggested in the previous
subsection, the four intertwining individuality structures contribute in perceiving the
surrounding reality under the direction of the soul. Following Dooyeweerd’s thinking, the
human temporal experience of reality resides in the continuous flowing and succession of
moments and events. It shows that cosmic time is experienced subjectively. In a continuous
flowing of events and change, the human being becomes aware of reality.
In chapter 3, this thesis has developed a structure—the observer—that provides a description

of human subjective experience of the surrounding spatial and social environment. The
structure of the observer helps in clarifying the relationship between man and his surrounding
environment by analyzing the process of human experience. As suggested in chapter 3, in the
relation of perceiver (human being)–surrounding environment, the former plays a central role.
There are many affinities between the structure of the observer and the philosophy of the
temporal reality developed by Dooyeweerd. The following figure helps in defining them:
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µ x
x
X = environment
x
y
y
µ Y = subjective universe
of representation
x
x Perception and π
x giving premises
µ
µ conclusions
making
inferences
Source: figure 3, chapter 3: relation perceiver - observer
Inputs from the surrounding

temporal reality
Outputs to the surrounding

temporal environment; action.
Figure 6: the temporal body acting structure and

the observer. (Source: author’s elaboration)
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Figure 6 represents a comparison between the structure of the observer and the
Dooyeweerdian temporal soul-body acting structure. The subjective temporal experience
presupposes the coexistence of two fixed temporal structures that are identified as the acting
body and the surrounding reality. The latter is defined by the law side of cosmic time, which
is the immutable temporal structure of the succeeding modalities. If compared to the soul-
body act structure, the structure of the observer leads to the following considerations:
1. The temporal structure of the acting body–soul gives meaning to the human being as
being in the world. By acting, the human soul gives expression to his way of being, to
his feelings, to his needs, and to his expectations. The physical-chemical composition
of the human body is a fixed structure; what changes is the subjective sphere enclosed
in the soul. From a religious point of view, faith resides in the soul. Socially
considered, the soul is a universe containing our subjective background and
personality. The importance and the role played by the soul in religion and in social
disciplines indicates that planning should not preclude an investigation of the social,
historical, and cultural identity of communities.
2. The law side of cosmic time is the fixed temporal structure that, through the
anticipation and the postponing of analogical functions, gives coherence to the
surrounding temporal reality. As suggested at the beginning of this chapter, the law
side of cosmic time is the structure of the modal order.
3. The entity side of cosmic time represents the continuous flowing of events concretized
by change. If referred to human beings, the entity side of cosmic time is to be
described on two levels: the psychological sensitive one and the physical bodily one.
Within the psychological-sensitive level, time is perceived through change occurring
in the surrounding temporal environment. Time is a feeling, a sensation of events
succeeding in a temporal, flowing order defined by the law side. The latter is a fixed
structure, the ground of temporal reality. Within the physical level, the entity side of
cosmic time represents change occurring in the soul-body act structure. In particular, it
indicates change occurring through the intertwinement of the four identity structures
(psychochemical, biotic, physic, act). This concept is related to that of life stages such
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as birth, growing old, and death, which inevitably lead to changes within the human
body and soul.
In the light of what was suggested in the previous sections and subsections, it is possible
to affirm that Dooyeweerd’s philosophy defines three interacting temporal structures:
1. The law side order of cosmic time
2. The entity side order of cosmic time
3. The soul body temporal structure
The naive temporal experience of the surrounding temporal environment is the result of
the constant interaction of these three orders. The subjective temporal experience can be
graphically defined as follows:
Cosmic time: ENVIRONMENT

law side (immediate spatial environment)
Cosmic time:
identity side
sensitive level
Identity side of cosmic

time, bodily level, TIME
change through time As measured by
clocks and calendars
Anticipation and
retrocipation between
the identity structures
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Figure 7: interaction of the three Dooyeweerdian temporal orders.
(Source: author’s elaboration)
Figure 7 provides a structural definition of the immediate, sensitive human experience of the
surrounding environment. The temporal structure of the law side (the light blue semicone) is
composed of the fifteen modalities succeeding in a temporal immutable order. It represents
the surrounding temporal environment. The green arrow indicates the identity side of cosmic
time that is the continuous flowing of events and change within the system. The law side and
the entity side are on two parallel levels, constantly evolving in time flowing (the red arrow in
figure 7). The central unity of the naive temporal experience of the surrounding temporal
environment is the “I,” the subjective soul, the human ego. Dooyeweerd asserts that “the
temporal order of our experiential world is like a prism which refracts or disperses the
sunlight into a rich diversity of colours. None of these colours is the light itself” (1960, 9). In
the human ego resides the mystery of man, his personality, his being responsible.
Social life and social intercourse have origin in the human ego. Dooyeweerd indicates three
central relations of the human ego (ibid.):
1. The central relation of temporal experience. The human ego is related to the whole
temporal experience of the surrounding temporal world as the central reference of the
temporal world itself.
2. The central communal relation. The human ego is continuously interrelated with the
other fellow men and with the other egos.
3. The religious central relation. The human ego points beyond itself to its divine origin.
The above-suggested three relations indicate as many directions of the human ego:
1. The direction from the subjective individuality toward the external world. This is the
in-out direction.
2. The direction from the subjective individuality toward other subjective individualities.
This is the in-out-in direction.
3. The direction from the subjective individuality toward its religious origin. This is the
in-inside direction.
Such defined directions describe man as an individual as well as a social being. The human
being is aware of his individuality; and being in a constant interrelation with the surrounding
environment, he becomes part of a social group. In the light of the above considerations, it is
possible to affirm what follows:
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• Naive experience is the basis of subjective and social life.

• Naive experience leads to the whole understanding of the temporal surrounding.
• The human ego realizes itself in a communal relation with other egos.
This indicates the temporal experience of the surrounding reality presupposing a number of
interacting actors (acting human beings or acting body-soul structures), which interrelate
within a temporal context. The next section provides an introduction to the Dooyeweerdian
concept of the subject-object relation and the meaning of the term social identity.
3.3 I-thou relation and the four levels of experience: The concept of social identity in
Dooyeweerd’s philosophy
In his philosophy, Dooyeweerd provides a detailed definition of the concept of human ego.
Within the communal-central relation, the I-ness—the human ego—is related to the other
egos in a constant search for self-affirmation. The human ego is directly related to the soul-
body act structure. Dooyeweerd asserted that “the human ego, to which human experience is
related, is one and the same: it transcends all modal functions and all temporal individuality
structures of human existence referred to it. It is the single central point of reference for all of
them, but not any science whatever can make it into its Gegenstand” (1983, 2:115). The
human ego is, thus, atemporal; it has no function within the temporal modal order of the
surrounding reality. Despite its atemporal character, it is basic in developing social
intercourse and in building social identity.
The following figure is a simplification of the communal relation of the human ego:
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Figure 8: simplification of social intercourse as interrelation of soul-body act structures. (Source: author’s
elaboration
Figure 8 represent the interaction of three human beings. It is a social interaction through
which the soul-body acting structures exchange information, share background, and
experience the external world. The concept of social interaction is pivotal in many disciplines
including urban planning.
Dooyeweerd asserts that “when psychology speaks about self feeling, self-impulse, self-love
or ego-ism, self-preservation, self-control, self-observation, or introspection and so on, it can
mean only psychological phenomena which manifest themselves in a concentric direction to
the ego. But the ego itself escapes every attempt to grasp it in a psychological way” (ibid.).
Following Dooyeweerd’s words, within the human ego, no peculiar subjective human
character resides as it is one and always the same. Social intercourse cannot be defined in the
same way that communal interrelations of human egos cannot be defined, as it implies a more
complex structure. The real meeting of I and thou, through the social intercourse, is to be
intended in the deepest sense of a central religious relation, which is not analyzable within
any modal sphere of the temporal reality. Dooyeweerd dedicated part two of the third volume
of his work A New Critique of Theoretical Though to the investigation of the social sciences.
He wrote, “Our investigation of the structures of individuality is now to be focussed upon the
structural principles of the various typical relationships in human society. We may establish
that this part of our inquiry is to be viewed as foundational for any special science which
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examines these societal relationships under a specific theoretically abstracted modal

viewpoint” (ibid., 3:157).
With this assumption, Dooyeweerd defined the I-thou relation as grounding for social
sciences. Dooyeweerd made a distinction between the term community and the term
interindividual or intercommunal relationships. He wrote, “By community I understand any
more or less durable societal relationship which has the character of a whole joining its
members into a social unity, irrespective of the degree of intensity of the communal bond . . .
By inter-individual or inter-communal relationships I mean such in which individual persons
or communities function in coordination without being united into a solidary whole. Such
relationships may show the character of mutual neutrality, of approachment, free cooperation
or antagonism, competition or contest” (ibid.,177). Communal and intercommunal social
relationships are strictly related as “in the temporal order every communal relation has a
counterpart in inter-communal or inter-personal relationships, and conversely. The same
individual persons who, in one respect are members of the same community, may in another
respect be in an inter-personal or inter-communal relation to one another” (ibid., 178).
Dooyeweerd made a further distinction by defining two kinds of communities:
• Organized communities, which are founded in the historical power formation. Such
organizations have a supra-individual character as they are structured as independent
from the duration of life of its individual members. Examples of organized
communities can be found in those people belonging to the same industry or
agriculture branch. Organized communities are ruled by norms and laws that can be
defined within the modal order of the temporal reality. Social communities are widely
organized communities embracing a number of suborganized groups.
• Nonorganized communities or natural communities, which have a typical biotic
foundation. Examples of natural communities are marriage and cognate families.
Societal intercourse, following Dooyeweerd’s thought, consists of different levels of

interpersonal relations. Each level is to be considered within a societal whole. Human beings
act socially as part of a more restricted natural community that is based on biotic relations
(family). They are members of a wider group (the village) that is organized and ruled by
norms of authority and rooted principles whose peculiarities have to be found within the law
side of the modal order. In other terms, the peculiarity of each community resides in the
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social, physical, and juridical context in which they develop. Communities are grounded in
the urban context that is the result of the anthropical process through time.
Communities are defined by Dooyeweerd as structural-individual wholes embracing all their

parts. These parts are organized and nonorganized groups existing within a specific
community. A organized social community (a village) is composed of social parts (more
restricted groups), which define its unitary character by means of their diversity.
Following Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, the social-cultural identity resides in the mutual relation
of the soul-body act structure to the surrounding temporal cosmic order. This ongoing
interaction causes change within the surrounding environment by means of human action and
environmental reaction.
Naive experience lies at the bottom of the changing ongoing process. The above-suggested
three temporal structures define four levels of experience, all of them referred to the human
being:
1. Supratemporal level of experience (soul)
2. Temporal level of experience (body)
3. Modal level of experience (law side of cosmic time)
4. Individuality structures or subjective level of experience (entity side of cosmic
time)
The supratemporal and the temporal levels of experience are bound together in a mutual
correlation as the soul-body act structure demonstrates. The suggested four levels of
experience define social life and social intercourse; and as a consequence, it defines the
peculiar characters of communities by contributing in building their sense of identity and their
sense of being part of a socially structured whole.
4. Conclusions and Further Work
This chapter has provided an introduction to the concept of time as it was developed in
Dooyeweerd’s philosophy. As integration of the concepts developed in chapter 3, chapter 4
provides a deeper investigation of the relation of man-environment by the analysis of the soul-
body act structure. The Dooyeweerdian theory of man describes the human being in terms of
time and space. The human being is represented as a system of aspects that are all
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interconnected and directed by the soul. Through the bodily senses, reality is experienced.
Dooyeweerd defined reality by a set of fifteen modalities being interconnected by means of
the analogical relation of anticipation and postponing.
The simile of the reversed pyramid provided in figure 2 shows the increasing complexity
achieved by the modalities through the analogical process. Each modality is a spatiotemporal
field; and as a consequence, the modal order is a spatiotemporal system. The human
experience of the surrounding environment is an ongoing process of interaction. During this
process, the human being is aware of his individuality as well as of his being part of a
community. The concepts of identity is grounded in the human experience of the surrounding
environment; and as consequence, it is grounded in time and space. The structure of the
observer, introduced and developed in chapter 3, is compared to the body-soul act structure. It
suggests the definition of three interrelated levels of experience that indicate as many
directions. These levels and directions of experience are descriptive of the human being as
measure of the cosmos.
In the following chapter, Dooyeweerd’s philosophy is further investigated. Given that the
modal order of reality is defined by a set of fifteen modalities, chapter 5 provides an analysis
of each of them in order to focus on their spatial and temporal meanings. The active role
played by the human being as decision maker is further analyzed.
106

Introducing The Concept of Time in The Dooyeweerdian Cosmonomic Philosophy: Time As A Structured and Structuring Element of The Whole of Reality

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Introducing The Concept of Time in The Dooyeweerdian Cosmonomic Philosophy: Time As A Structured and Structuring Element of The Whole of Reality

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Chapter IV.

The concept of time is of great importance in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of reality.

In order to clarify Dooyeweerd’s view of reality, an analysis of its structure is required. As

The analogical functions of anticipation and retrocipation define the interlacement of

Despite space is presupposed by time, this assumption indicates that, in Dooyeweerd’s

Succession of simultaneities = motion

Figure 1: relation between time and space. (Source: author’s elaboration)

All these considerations can be described by the following figure:

Figure 2: the pyramid of experience. (Source: author’s elaboration)

The following graphical representation helps in clarifying these concepts:

The simultaneous character of each modality is an individual aspectual characteristic. Because

Numerical Spatial Movement

Figure 4: temporal modal order. (Source: author’s elaboration)

As suggested in chapter 2, sustainable development requires an integrated time-oriented

Dooyeweerd’s philosophy conceives reality as described by a set of interrelated aspects.

At the beginning of the forties, Dooyeweerd defined thirty-two propositions on anthropology

• The modern-humanistic motive of nature and freedom, including the natural-scientific

These ground-motives have influenced western scientific thinking in particular anthropology,

Anaximander, on the contrary, as an old Ionian-nature philosopher, viewed time as a divine

• The creation-fall-redemption motive of the Hebrew thought

• The nature-grace motive of medieval Roman Catholic

• The nature-freedom motive of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and modern times

“Transcendental Aesthetic.” It is aimed at demonstrating the existence of a synthetic a priori

In developing his cosmonomic philosophy, Dooyeweerd was influenced by past cultures. In

As introduced at the beginning of this section, Dooyeweerd’s theory of man is summarized in

Figure 5: the temporal-acting body. (Source: author’s elaboration)

In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, man is a well-organized and structured whole. The concept of

Figure 5 represents the schematization of the temporal-acting structure composed by the

3. 2 Time Experience in Dooyeweerd’s Philosophy: A Comparison of the Soul-Body

In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, the concept of time experience is of great importance. In A New

In chapter 3, this thesis has developed a structure—the observer—that provides a description

Inputs from the surrounding

Outputs to the surrounding

Figure 6: the temporal body acting structure and

Cosmic time: ENVIRONMENT

Identity side of cosmic

• Naive experience is the basis of subjective and social life.

examines these societal relationships under a specific theoretically abstracted modal

Societal intercourse, following Dooyeweerd’s thought, consists of different levels of

Communities are defined by Dooyeweerd as structural-individual wholes embracing all their

4. Conclusions and Further Work

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