The Temporal Modal Structure: Defining The Existing Temporal Relations Within The Fifteen Dooyeweerdian Modalities

Chapter V.
The Temporal Modal Structure: Defining Time Dimensions Within the Fifteen Dooyeweerdian Modalities
Chapter V
The Temporal Modal Structure: Defining the Existing Temporal Relations

within the Fifteen Dooyeweerdian Modalities
By convention there is sweetness, by convention bitterness, by convention colour, in reality only atoms and the
void.
Democritus, Dialect Between Intellect and the Senses
1. Introduction
Time is the bedrock of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of reality. As suggested in chapter 4, the

Dutch philosopher defined four levels of experience that are descriptive of the relation
between man-surrounding environment. The human being is defined as a systemic whole
whose functioning is based on the analogical relation of anticipation and postponing of
aspects. The body is the potentiality of the human soul. The relation of man-surrounding
environment is defined as interaction between two systems—the soul-body act structure and
the environmental system. Dooyeweerd defines the environment surrounding the human
being by a set of fifteen modalities in an ordered succession.
In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, time is the meaning of reality itself. Together with space, time
structures reality by defining its simultaneous and dynamic character. Reality is disclosed
through human temporal experience, both naive and theoretical. The difference between these
two kinds of experience resides in the different relation between man and environment, which
they imply. The following figure can help in clarifying this concept:
Naive experience Theoretical experience
Figure 1: naive and theoretical experience. (Source: author’s elaboration)

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Chapter V. The Temporal Modal Structure: Defining Time Dimensions Within the Fifteen Dooyeweerdian Modalities
In the naive experience, the human being is inside reality. He is immersed in the continuous
flowing of events, and he feels change through the senses. The theoretical experience brings
the human being in front of reality. The human being is outside it. Dooyeweerd describes
these different positions of man with respect to reality using the terms subject-object relation
and gegenstand relation. In section 2.3, a wider explanation of these two kinds of relation is
provided.
This chapter is aimed at a deeper investigation of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of time. As

suggested in the previous chapter, the Dooyeweerdian concept of reality is that of a modal
system grounded in space and time. The modal order is a space-time. Dooyeweerd’s
cosmonomic philosophy is a philosophy of time as structured and structuring element of
reality.
In order to go deeper into the philosophy of time, this chapter provides an investigation of the
modal order by the analysis of each modal aspect. Such an investigation is needed in order to
clarify the complex concepts developed by Dooyeweerd in his philosophy and to introduce
their further application to urban planning.
2. The Philosophy of the Law-Idea: Grounding Concepts
In a lecture held on 2 January 1964 at the annual meeting of the Association for Calvinist
Philosophy, Dooyeweerd said, “It was especially these four basic Ideas which I have briefly
summarised here, which were to have such a fundamental significance for the philosophy of
the Law-Idea” (1964–2007, 13). These basic ideas, as listed afterwards, had been developed
by Abraham Kuyper, an active Dutch politician, statesman, and theologian who played an
important role in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy and life. Dooyeweerd based his philosophy of the
law idea on the following four Kuyperian ideas:
• The idea of antithesis. Kuyper stated that there is a central antithesis between the
spirit of God’s Word and the spirit of the world. This antithesis leads to a
contraposition between God and the world. This contraposition is revealed in every
area of life, including science. The philosophy of the law idea was Dooyeweerd’s
response to this antithesis. His attempt was to bridge this rift by developing
philosophical principles based on time as the structuring and grounding element.
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• The idea of the religious centre of life. Man was created by God with a religious
centre of life called the “heart.” Out of the heart are the issues of life. Dooyeweerd
developed this idea by introducing the soul-body act structure as a way of definitively
connecting the religious sphere and the secularized sphere within the figure of man.
• The idea of sovereignty in its own sphere1. This idea is related to the concept of the
mutual irreducibility of spheres of life especially societal ones. Dooyeweerd
developed his philosophy of reality by starting from this idea. The definition of fifteen
mutually and temporally related modalities is a concrete example of the application of
this idea. As will be exposed later, each modality has been conceived by the Dutch
philosopher as having a proper meaning. The meaning of a modality is what
distinguishes it from the other modalities. The concept of sovereignty in its own
sphere, related to the modal order of reality defined by Dooyeweerd, indicates the
special character of each modality with respect to the others. At the same time, it
presupposes a mutual, not causal, connection between them. This concept will be later
on be further developed.
• The idea of faith and human nature. The function of faith is created within human
nature, and it plays an essential role in human knowledge. No science is neutral over
or against the faith that one proceeds from. This religious idea characterizes the whole
of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy. As introduced in chapter 1, Dooyeweerd was a Christian
man; his life and his work were influenced by his faith.
The philosophy of the law idea was conceived as a way to investigate the complex and
multiaspectual character of reality. In the introduction to the first volume of his masterwork A
New Critique of Theoretical Thought, Dooyeweerd provides a clear description of his concept
of reality, “If I consider reality as it is given in the naive pre-theoretical experience, and then
confront it with a theoretical analysis, through which reality appears to split up into various
modal aspects then the first thing that strikes me, is the original indissoluble interrelation
among these aspects which are for the first time explicitly distinguished in the theoretical
attitude of mind” (1983, 3). Reality is conceived by Dooyeweerd as multiaspectual. A similar
vision applied to urban planning implies a more complex approach.
1
Dooyeweerd asserts that the meaning of this concept introduced by Kuyper was at first misunderstood. It was
in fact confused with the autonomy granted to municipalities, provinces, and water-board jurisdictions (1964–
2007).
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The philosophy of the law idea was developed by starting from the complex and
multiaspectual character of reality. Dooyeweerd’s aim was to turn complexity into a unifying
element within philosophy itself. His aim was to turn antithesis into synthesis through
philosophy.
In order to achieve a better underpinning into Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of the law idea, this
chapter provides an investigation of the following key concepts:
• The Archimedean point

• Entities and systems
• The subject-object relation
Appendix A provides the definition of the above terms by comparing them to their related
meaning in urban planning.
2. 1 The Archimedean Point and the Insight into the Problem of Time
The concept of the Archimedean point is of great importance in understanding Dooyeweerd’s

philosophy of the law idea. The Archimedean point is a “fixed point from which alone, in the
course of philosophical thought, we are able to form the idea of the totality of meaning” (ibid.,
8). Dooyeweerd defines three conditions that the Archimedean point should satisfy:
First-it may not be divorced from our own subjective self. For it is our self that is
actually operative in philosophic thought. And only in this centre of our existence can
we transcend the modal diversity of meaning.
Second-it may not be divorced from the concentric law of the ego’s existence. Without
this law the subject drops away into chaos, or rather into nothingness. Only by this
law is the ego determined and limited.
Third-it must transcend all modal diversity of meaning and be found in the totality and
radical unity of the latter. Our ego must participate in this totality, if it is to have an
idea of it in the process of philosophic thought. (ibid., 12)
Following Dooyeweerd’s thinking, the Archimedean point can be found in the religious
centre of human life. God gives coherence and unity to our lives. Under a secularized point of
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view, the Archimedean point is a point from which it is possible to have a unified vision of a
whole. An example could be that of the hill and the village. Given a hill and a village below,
from the top of the hill, it is possible to have a unified vision of the village. The Archimedean
is an observation point. If referred to urban planning, the Archimedean point can be defined as
the point of reference which provides the basis for decision making. Appendix A provides a
definition of the Archimedean point in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy and in urban planning.
The concept of the Archimedean point, as grounding in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, recalls the
importance of the human being and the role humankind plays within the surrounding
environment. By the term subjective self, Dooyeweerd indicates the cognitive and
noncognitive aspects that are related to the temporal soul-body act system. The subjective self
determines, and is determined, by the subjective temporal experience of reality. It is the centre
of human existence, which is based on given structures and rules continuously changing
through the temporal experience. The subjective self is the subjective sphere of the human
being. It is characterized both by its sensitive and the logical subspheres. The concept of the
subjective self focuses on the importance Dooyeweerd gave to the role of man within reality.
The subjective self encloses human identity and sense of being part in a certain place in a
certain community. It is not a static entity; rather, it has a dynamic character. The human
subjective sphere changes and evolves through the experience of the surrounding
environment. Considering that the surrounding environment is a space-time modal system, the
human subjective sphere changes and evolves through time and within a defined space.
On the concept of the Archimedean point, Dooyeweerd provides a wide analysis in volumes 1
and 2 of A New Critique of Theoretical Thought by suggesting a description of the main
philosophical positions around this subject through centuries. As a concentration point for the
idea of the totality of meaning, the Archimedean point is related to the being of what is of
reality and, by consequence, to the problem of time. As asserted by Dooyeweerd on
Aristotle’s Metaphysics, “Being as a unity with its highest metaphysical principles is directly
founded in reason . . . which is the origin of the eternal truth. It is not a generic concept here,
but rather the noumenal ground of all generic concepts, and even exalted above the diversity
of the categories. In the primordial doctrine of the being of what is all the first metaphysical
basic concepts are treated” (ibid., II:20). The insight into the being of what is depends entirely
upon the choice of the Archimedean point taken by the human being. If chosen within the
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temporal reality itself, the Archimedean point is the source of basic antinomies derived by the
different aspects characterizing reality.
In Tijdsprobleem (the problem of time) Dooyeweerd asserted, “Only when all modal aspects
without exceptions, including the logical-analytical, are enclosed within time, can the time
really be understood as the transcendental condition for theoretical synthesis. But this state of
affair can only be seen and acknowledged by giving up the immanence standpoint in
philosophy” (1940, 77), and further, “in the cogito,(I think), the thinking selfhood is active
which as such functions not only in the logical analytical aspect, but equally in all aspects of
reality. At the same time this selfhood is the concentration point of temporal human
existence” (ibid., 179). Dooyeweerd identifies the Archimedean point within the religious root
of the subjective selfhood, in the human heart or soul as “the anima-rationalis, to which
immortality was always attributed, is only accidentally subjected to time, in its connection to
the material body. According to its substantial rational being, it is supra-temporal” (ibid.,
180). Aimed at concentrating the whole meaning of reality, the Archimedean point should be
supratemporal. The Archimedean point is the religious supratemporal concentration point of
temporal reality, the point between finite and infinite.
Following current philosophical end literary definitions, an Archimedean point is a

hypothetical vantage point from which an observer can objectively perceive the subject of
inquiry with a view of totality. If applied to planning, the concept of the Archimedean point
could describe a vantage position, for the planner, from which to “observe” the specific real
context that is the object of the act of planning. This position is not of a physical nature. It is a
mental condition that is not easy to achieve. In order to acquire a view from an Archimedean
point, the observer has to “remove himself” from the object of study so he can see it in
relation to all other things, remaining independent from them.
The necessity of an Archimedean point in sustainable urban planning derives from the
complex and multiaspectual character of the discipline whose approach involves many
different and often conflicting factors. Prof. Bernardo Secchi2 in the preface to his book
Prima lezione di Urbanistica (Town Planning-first lesson) asserts, “Una disciplina, però,
come l’urbanistica, che al centro della propria riflessione ha posto il progetto del futuro, che è
divenuta oggetto di attese salvifiche e di delusioni cocenti, deve certamente avere a che fare
2
Bernardo Secchi was born in 1934. He teaches Town Planning at the University of Venice, department of
Architecture. He is author of many scientific publications and he made the plans of the cities of Siena, Bergamo,
Prato, Pesaro, Geneva, Marseille, Kortrijk, Antwerp and Rennes.
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con questioni che, almeno nell’immaginario collettivo, sono considerate rilevanti e difficili da
risolvere” (“The project of the future is at the core of town planning. This discipline has
become the horizon for collective expectations and delusions, therefore it deals with questions
that are difficult to solve) (2000–2007, X).
The above assumption indicates that planning deals not only with the physical environment,
local territory, space, but also with people and communities. André Corboz3 defined the
territory like a scrawl in which past generations have written, cancelled, modified, and added
signs. The physical anthropical space is thus a complex system whose analysis implies a wide,
multiaspectual background and an Archimedean vision. Following these principles, an
Archimedean point in planning is a mental cultural condition behind “the veil of ignorance”
(Gauthier 1986, 16).
In one of his last interviews recorded in 1974, when asked about the origin of the term
Archimedean point, Dooyeweerd answered,
The term Archimedean point is derived from a saying of the great Greek natural
scientist Archimedes, the defender of Syracuse during the Roman sea attack. He said
give me a point where I can stand and I will move the earth . . . the Archimedean point
is derived from this saying. In philosophy it is necessary to have a point where we can
stand and from which we can obtain a view of totality over the whole of human
experience in time, within time, within the order of time . . . A kind of lookout post,
but one that is set up in such a way that you cannot look out from a particular point of
view that is contained within our temporal world of experience. (1974, 2).
Dooyeweerd considered the Archimedean point in philosophy as transcendental, enclosed in

the religious sphere of life. Where does the Archimedean point in planning reside? As a
multiaspectual discipline concerning physical space and communities, planning requires an
attitude of the planner in considering needs and expectations; it requires a participative
attitude in planning.
3
André Corboz was born in Geneva in 1928. He studied art history, architectural history and planning, and he
was interested in human culture and society. He wrote L’urbanisme du XXe siècle, Le territoire comme
palimpseste, Apprendre à decoder la nebuleuse urbaine. Bernardo Secchi asserted that André Corboz did not
feel bound to a single cause, to a single Church, but he knew that distinctions between disciplines were a
construction (Saggio, 1998).
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In appendix A, the term Archimedean point related to urban planning is defined as a point of
reference. This point can be found in the genius loci of an urban context. The term genius loci
is a Latin one. It indicates the genius of a place, the deity looking after the place’s identity.
Assuming that the genius loci be the Archimedean point in urban planning implies that the
subject of investigation is rooted in time and space.
2.2 Entities and Systems
The cosmonomic theory of reality claims that human beings experience two sides of reality.
They are the law side and the entity side. In chapter 4 , a description of these two sides has
been provided. The law side of cosmic time is, following Dooyeweerd’s philosophy, the
temporal horizon of human experience, while the entity side of cosmic time represents the
continuous flowing of duration of experience. These two sides are interrelated and cannot be
considered as separate.
The entity side of reality concerns things, systems, and anything that does something,
including human beings, plants, or animals. It concerns all living systems intended not just
under a biological or chemical point of view but with reference to their acting within a wider
system, e.g., reality.
The law side of reality concerns modalities in which entities operate, and it has been defined
by Dooyeweerd in a set of fifteen aspects in a specific, not mutable, succession. This
succession of modalities gives coherence to reality through the temporal enkaptic relation of
anticipation and postponing, as suggested in chapter 4. Cosmic time is the grounding structure
giving form and coherence to reality. Both the entities and the laws defining each modality
function within the temporal fixed and immutable structure of the law side. Dooyeweerd
asserted that “the general modal meaning of the law-sphere may be called a functional
modality of the religious fullness of meaning. The functional structure of meaning,
guaranteeing to the law-sphere its specific internal sovereignty, is indeed nothing but a modal
splitting up of the totality of meaning, in time. This functional modal meaning has a law-side
and a subject-side, just as cosmic time itself appears to have . . . Law and subject side are only
possible in their dissoluble correlation . . . both the law-side and the subject-side of the sphere
are determined in their structural meaning by the cosmic order of time” (1983, 2:7–8).
Dooyeweerd’s vision of reality was that of a system grounded in time and space. Within this
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system, entities and laws function and operate in each aspect. If referred to an urban context,
Dooyeweerd’s definition of reality suggests the following considerations:
• The urban context can be defined as a system of interrelated aspects that are grounded
in time and space.
• The citizens are acting entities within the urban context. They are systems acting
within the urban system.
• The urban context is experienced by the citizens as it is their surrounding environment.
On a sensitive level of experience, the citizens are in the urban context, while on a
logical level, they create a distance between them and their surrounding reality (see
figure 1).
The above considerations indicate the existing relationships between Dooyeweerd’s definition
of reality and that of an urban context. In order to further clarify and describe how the human
being (the citizen) experiences his surrounding reality (the urban context he acts in), an
introduction to the Dooyeweerdian subject-object relation is needed.
2.3 The Subject-Object Relation and the Understanding of Temporal Reality
The subject-object relation is a longstanding philosophical issue arising from the notion that
the world consists of objects that are perceived or acted upon by subjects. Objects are the
observed and subjects are the observers. In the theory of knowledge, the interaction between
subject and object in the process of cognition is a crucial issue. Cognition, as a unique
window to the objective world, has captured the attention and motivated research and debate
by scholars in a wide variety of fields for millennia. Cognition is the result of a relation
between the subject and the object of knowledge.
On the concept of knowledge as deriving from the subject-object relation, many famous
Western philosophers have written. In his work The World as Will and Representation, Arthur
Schopenhauer claimed, “Everything that exists for knowledge, and hence the whole of this
world, is only object in relation to the subject, perception of the perceiver, in a word,
representation . . . there is no object without the subject . . . everything objective is already
conditioned as such in manifold ways by the knowing subject” (1969, book 1, 1:3).
Schopenhauer’s theory was based on the preeminent role of the subject with respect to the
object. Representation of the objective perceived reality depends exclusively on the perceiver.
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This implies that reality has no proper character, no autonomous existence; rather, it reflects
the subjective act of representation.
In the Critique of the Pure Reason (1965), Immanuel Kant claims that the human
understanding of the external world has its foundation not merely in experience, but in both
experience and a priori concepts. In Kant’s philosophy, the subject-object relation was
conceived as the subject affecting the way objects are observed in accordance to what
Schopenhauer claimed. Following Kant, the possibility of knowledge is to be found in the
structure of the subject itself instead of in any objective reality.
The above-suggested two philosophical visions of the subject-object relation seem to deny
any existing structure within the objective perceived reality that was able to define the limits
of the subjectivity of the act of observing. This thesis is not aimed at providing a
philosophical dissertation on this argument although the question of the existence of a
structure of reality (that is in some way a given reality) influences the way of approaching it.
The philosopher Edmund Husserl provides an interesting description of the subject-object

relation as “the classical conception of the relationship between subject and object is a
presence of the object and a presence near to the object. The relationship is understood in such
a way that, in it, the present exhausts the being of the subject and of the object. The object is
at every instant exactly what the subject currently thinks it to be. In other words, the subject-
object relation is entirely conscious” (quoted in Levinas 1998, 116). Husserl’s works on
phenomenology are based on concepts like community as horizon that indicate the importance
of the subject-object relation within the social life. In Husserl’s philosophy, the term horizon
signifies the framework in which experience occurs; the horizon conditions experience and
supplies the diverse aspects of objectivity (reality) that are not directly intended in any one act
of consciousness (Husserl 1935). The subject-object relation is conceived as a conscious act
being influenced by the objectivity of surrounding reality itself. This indicates that Husserl
recognizes the existence of a number of different aspects of reality that are not directly
dependent on the observer. Husserl’s vision of reality is not so different from Dooyeweerd’s.
Reality is conceived as a given structure, what changes is the human subjective perception of
it. In urban planning terms, the given structure is the city. As suggested in chapter 1, cities are
like palimpsests. Their identity takes form within space through the time flowing.
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Urban structures are like texts written through humankind’s action. This is a process during
centuries. The historical-formative evolution of cities defines their temporality. Dooyeweerd’s
concept of reality as a given structure fits the definition of the urban context as a given
historically evolving structure. The citizen, as observer of the urban context, experiences a
reality that is already structured. The reality, as well as the urban context, is given by their
formative evolution that is the human deliberative activity that affects the future. This implies
that the urban reality, as the result of the anthropical process through time, exists as given for
the today’s community. By acting, today’s citizens change their surrounding reality, which
will be given for future generations. Each succeeding generation changes the urban reality.
What is given today is not what will be given in the future.
The mutual relation between an observed object and an observing subject was a theme that
was widely described in Arthur Schelling’s philosophical works. In his essay of 1795 titled
Vom Ich als Prinzip der Philosophie Uberhaupt, Schelling asserted, “Since the subject is
thinkable only in regard to an object, and the object only in regard to a subject, neither of
them can contain the unconditional because both are conditioned reciprocally, both are
equally unserviceable. Furthermore, in order to determine the relationship of the two, an
ulterior reason for the determination must be presupposed, owing to which both are
determined. For one cannot say that the subject alone determines the object, because the
subject is only conceivable with relation to the object and vice versa, and it would amount to
the same if I were to treat as unconditional a subject determined by an object determined by a
subject” (quoted in Dews 1995, 84). Following Schelling’s thought, in the subject-object
relation, there is no preeminent role. Observing subjects and observed objects are posed on an
equal level as they are mutually conditioned. Schelling’s assumption focuses on the mutual
interrelation between the observer and the object that is observed. As suggested in chapter 3
of this thesis, the term observer indicates a system whose elements are the environment and a
human being. They are connected in the act of observing. Figures 3 and 4 in chapter 3 have
provided a graphical representation of this relation. In chapter 4, the concept of the observer is
compared to that of the soul-body act structure whose graphical description is provided by
figure 6 and figure 7. Dooyeweerd conceives the subject-object relation as proper of naive
experience. On the contrary, theoretical experience is characterized by the gegenstand
relation. In Dooyeweerd’s thinking, the relation between the observer and the observed is
twofold. In A New Critique, Dooyeweerd stated that “essential to the pre-theoretical mode of
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experiencing is the subject-object relation conceived in the integral structures of individuality

apart from any theoretical abstraction” (1983, 3:32).
In an article published in 1975, Dooyeweerd wrote, “The subject-object relation by which we

understand the reality that presents itself to the horizon of human experience in the pre-
theoretical attitude of thought and experience of everyday life” (1975, 85).
The above assertions suggest that, in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy

• The subject-object relation is necessary in understanding reality. Through the mutual
continuous interrelation between the observers and the observed objects, reality is
disclosed to the former’s eyes;
• The subject-object relation is disclosed within the horizon of the human experience of
life within the fifteen modalities characterizing reality.
Dooyeweerd defines the subject-object relation as “an intra-modal logical relation in which
we enter the modal dimension of our experience . . . the subject-object relations have only
what we may call an ontical character, that is, they belong to the integral temporal reality
itself, as it gives itself within the human horizon of experience” (ibid., 87). The subject-object
relation is grounding for the human being’s temporal existence.
In Dooyeweerd’s theory of the modal aspects, the subject-object relation connects the
temporal structure of the surrounding reality (the law side) to the soul-body act structure (the
human being). In the subject-object relation, temporality and temporal awareness take place
within the fifteen modalities. If referred to cities, the subject-object relation indicates the
citizens’ daily experience of their surrounding urban context. The subject-object relation “is a
fundamental relation in the structure of temporal reality” (Dooyeweerd 1940, 210). The
subject-object relation takes place within the modal order of reality.
3. The theory of modal aspects: modalities as aspects of temporal reality.
The philosophy of the law-idea derives from the great consideration that Dooyeweerd had for
everyday life. It represents Dooyeweerd’s most famous and most visible contribution to
philosophy and to several scientific realms. A modality can be defined as an irreducible area
of the functioning of a system. It is characterized by a nucleus of meaning, which provides it
with an internal order named sphere sovereignty and with a set of laws by which it is
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governed, enabling entities to function in a variety of ways. In A New Critique of Theoretical

Thought, Dooyeweerd asserted that “the modal aspects in their functional structure are
consequently the determining, necessary conditions of all modal individuality in which
temporal reality reveals itself within the law-spheres concerned. For this reason they can be
called the modal a priori conditions of all individuality of meaning. This cosmic state of
affairs is founded in the temporal world-order, which also determines the possibility of our
experience. We can experience the modal aspects both in the pre-theoretical and in the
theoretical attitude only in their temporal coherence, according to the foundational and the
transcendental direction of time” (1983, 2:553). Dooyeweerd defined the following suite of
fifteen aspects as descriptive of temporal reality4:
Modalities Nuclei of meaning

Numerical Numbers
Spatial Continuous extension, pure space
Movement Pure movement
Physical Energy, mass
Biological Life function
Sensitive Senses, feelings
Analytic Discerning of entities, logic
Historical Formative power
Communicative Informatory, symbolic representation
Social Social intercourse, social exchange
Economic Frugality, handling limited resources
Aesthetic Harmony, beauty
Juridical Retribution, fairness, rights
Ethical Love, moral
Credal Faith, commitment, trustworthiness
Table 1: list of modalities. Source: Lombardi and Basden 1997
This section is aimed at analyzing each modality and their interdependency. The interaspect
dependency, as defined by Dooyeweerd, is based on the analogical relation between
modalities. It establishes that the latter aspects (modalities) are founded on the previous ones,
4
In identifying modalities and their order, not all authors are in accord. Hart identifies only fourteen modalities
as he does not include aesthetic. In addiction, he places the analytic between the historical and the
communicative aspects as a foundation for the informatory function (1984). De Raadt adds two new aspects, the
epistemic (whose essence is wisdom) and the operational (whose essence is production). These are placed,
respectively, next to the communicative modality and to the social modality (1997). Kalsbeck discusses the
meaningfulness of including the kinematics aspect within the physical as part of it (1975).
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and this dependence is not circular (aspect X depends on aspect Y, but not the contrary). A
description of the analogical relation has been provided in chapter four.
3. 1 The Analysis of Modalities with Reference to Their Functioning As Part of the

Systemic Temporal Reality.
The first modality defined by Dooyeweerd within the inter-order dependency is the aspect of
quantity whose kernel meaning is number, discrete quantities. Dooyeweerd asserted, “When
we try to analyse the modal meaning of the numerical aspect, it is necessary to start with the
natural cardinal numbers, in which this meaning discloses itself in its primitive and
irreducible structure” (ibid., 2:79). Dooyeweerd’s concept of the numerical aspect as the first
terminal aspect of human experience has been attacked and denied by many philosophers.
Prof. G.H.T. Malus from the University of the Oranje Free State (Africa), in a work published
in 1949, asserted that the numerical aspect presupposes prenumerical sets of discrete objects,
which are sensory perceptible (a pair of shoes, twins, and so on). In A New Critique,
Dooyeweerd quotes a passage of Malus’s critique,
The object which have number lie in altogether different spheres. They are points,
stones, apples, movements and so on. But none of them belong to the first (numerical)
sphere. Dooyeweerd is not aware of this lack of specific substantial objects in the
sphere. Nevertheless he speaks about the latter as if there are such objects and calls
them numbers. What kind of objects can these numbers be and from where does he get
them? The answer is he constructs them in a metaphysical way. He postulates first a
mode of being or modal meaning, i.e. quantitative discreteness in abstracto. Then he
hypostatizes this mode of being or meaning and gets his entity number. Number as an
object is the hypostatized quantitative mode of being. From the mode of being itself
number is born. (ibid., 2:84).
Dooyeweerd insisted on the point that “objects which have number have nothing to do with
the modal structure of the numerical aspect. And numbers cannot be objects . . . number as
such is a theoretical abstraction, a modal function, not a thing. The things in which numerical
relations are inherent, are not numbers, they have them. A set of things viewed only according
to the numerical aspect, is not itself a thing, so that it can be an object of sensory perception”
120
(ibid.,84–85). Following Dooyeweerd’s thinking, modalities are mainly set of laws that allow
entities to function. The numerical modality represents the most primitive one, it contains the
grounding laws on which all the other modalities are based.
Within the temporal coherence of cosmic time, the quantitative modality discloses itself in the
series principles of the numerical time order that is defined by + and -. Dooyeweerd asserted
that “in the aspect of quantity, time takes on the modal meaning of numerical relations. In the
series of numbers there is an irreversible order of time of earlier and later, which is in no way
dependent on our subjective counting but much rather is implied in the law-regular structure
of the modal numerical aspect itself. Earlier and later do not express in the least a succession
of movement in the series of numbers, but they express a relation of the quantitative value of
time” (1940, 167–168).
With respect to the subject-object relation as well as the gegenstand relation, the quantitative
aspect is grounding for all those logical functions concerned with thought since “every
analytical relation, even that of identity, implies a numerical analogy, because analysis itself
is a manner of distinction and distinctions implies at least two terms: the one and the other”
(Dooyeweerd 1983, 80). The succession of moments is perceived by the experiencing subject
as before and after. This temporal measure (earlier and later and before and after) is of great
importance both in the naive and in the theoretical experience.
With respect to the intermodal dependency, the quantitative modality is at the bottom of the
modal order. It is grounding for all the following aspects, and it is not dependent from any
other.
The modality of quantity—the numerical modality—can be summarized in the following

frame:
Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Modal
meaning meaning object interdependency
gegenstand
relation
process of
experience
QUANTITY Numbers, Earlier and later, Grounding No dependence
discrete numeric order, aspect for from any other
quantities pure before and cognition aspect;
after it anticipates all
121
the following
modalities.
Table 2: the aspect of quantity. Source: author’s elaboration.
The second modality within the modal order is the spatial aspect. An introduction on the
importance of space with respect to time has been provided in chapter 3 and in chapter 4.
The kernel meaning of the spatial aspect is continuous extension, simultaneity “in the
simultaneity of all its parts within the spatial order of time” (ibid., 2:86). In terms of law-
dependency, the spatial modality postpones quantitative amounts; and according to the
suggested pyramid of experience (see chapter 4 figure 2), it anticipates all the forthcoming
modalities. Dooyeweerd asserted, “The spatial aspect in its original modality of meaning
cannot exist without its substratum, the numerical law-sphere . . . its original meaning-kernel
can only be conceived as continuous extension in the simultaneity of all its parts within the
spatial order of time” (ibid., 85). In the theory of the law-idea, the spatial modality encloses a
great philosophical task: to resume the study of the relations between the pure space, as
studied by the ancient Greeks, and the meanings of the spatial concepts used in all other
sciences. As exposed in chapter 4, space has a great importance because of its relation to time
as seat for change. Space is the concrete physical-temporal horizon for human experience; and
rather, it is the main subject for urban planning. With reference to the concept of the law-
dependency developed by Dooyeweerd, the spatial modality is directly anticipated in the
numerical one. Dooyeweerd asserted, “In the infinite series, formed by the irrational and
differential functions of numbers, the modal meaning of the number aspect undeniably reveals
its anticipatory structure in that it approximates the original meaning of space and movement
respectively. But it remains within the meaning aspect of discrete quantity. The total of the
discrete numerical values, functioning in these approximative series, can never be actually
given in the anticipatory direction of time of the numerical aspect” (ibid., 87–88).
The temporal meaning of the spatial modality is spatial simultaneity that is “only
understandable within the cosmic order of time (which encloses all aspects of time), and it has
a temporal coherence both with arithmetical time as well as with the time of movement.
(Spatial simultaneity can approach the succession of movement in its anticipatory function.)”
(ibid., 1940, 168). An introduction to the concept of the spatial simultaneity is provided in
chapter 4. Dooyeweerd asserted that “in the idea of the totality of the discrete positions of a
spatial figure conceived as of being subject to continuous transformation, original spatial time
122
approximates the meaning of kinematic time, in so far as it anticipates the meaning of

kinematic succession” (1983, 2:102–103). This indicates that the character of simultaneity,
which is proper of the spatial aspect, anticipates the dynamism of the kinematic aspect.
The modality of space can be summarized in the following frame:
Modal Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

aspect meaning meaning object/gegenstand interdependency
relation
Process of
experience
SPACE Continuous Spatial Physical It depends on the
extension simultaneity, boundaries in the numerical aspect
pure simultaneity process of by the analogical
experience, function.
position in space It anticipates
movement and
kinematic
succession.
Table 3: the spatial aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The third modality within the modal order of reality is the aspect of movement or kinematic
modality. Originally, Dooyeweerd did not consider this aspect as a modality; but later he
separated it out from the spatial and the physical “since movement in this original sense
cannot be reduced to the numerical, the spatial or the physical aspects, it must be an original
modal aspect of human experience, which is at the foundation both of physical movement and
of movement in the objective psychical sense of sensory perception. That is to say that human
experience of movement can never be exhausted in its objective sensory aspect. It always
implicitly (in naive experience) or explicitly (in theoretical experience) refers to the original
aspect of movement which, as such, is of a pre-sensory character” (ibid., 99).
The kernel meaning of the kinematic modality is flowing movement that has no cause and no
change. Movement is intended by Dooyeweerd, not as “a change of place, but a flowing space
in the temporal succession of its movements” (ibid., 4:163). This implies that the aspect of
movement is anticipated in the spatial modality by the temporal analogical process (see
chapter 4, figures 1 and 4). In order to function within the temporal modal coherence, the
kinematic modality depends on laws in the spatial aspect. Human sensory and theoretical
experience of movement are grounded in space. Dooyeweerd wrote,
123
Kinematic space is an example of a complex retrocipation founded directly in its

ultimate substratum. It is directly founded in its original meaning nucleus of space
because it is a spatial analogy in the modal meaning of pure movement. But its
structure is not simple since implicitly it refers back to the retrocipatory moment of
dimensionality in the original meaning of space. This implicit reference is expressed in
the retrocipatory moment of the direction of movement, implied in the kinematic space
as a modal retrocipation. The direction of movement, in its turn, is founded in a
dimension as an arithmetical analogy in the original meaning of space. (ibid., 2:165).
The aspect of movement must not be understood in the mechanical sense of the classical
mechanics. Within this aspect, time reveals itself as a succession of movement in which the
spatial simultaneity has a relative character, although it is grounded in the static aspect of the
spatial extensiveness (ibid., 1940, 169).
Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

meaning meaning object/gegenstand interdependency
relation
Process of
experience
MOVEMENT Flowing Succession of Sensory/logical It is grounded in
movement movement, perception of the spatial aspect.
having no cause flowing space in movement, It anticipates the
and no change the succession of analogy of biotic aspect in
movement, movement in the the temporal
simultaneity and psychical aspect as succession of
before and after flowing space stages of life.
together through time.
Table 4: the aspect of movement. Source: author’s elaboration.
The third aspect within the modal order is the physical aspect whose kernel meaning is
energy5. It is grounded in mathematical laws and in kinematics (for example, in the kind of
movement founded in fluids), and it anticipates some forms of life (such as sodium pumps in
cell membranes). Dooyeweerd asserted, “Life is not a substance, but a modal function just
like energy. And the latter is not closed in a rigid mechanical-causal coherence, but because of
its modal structure it has anticipatory potencies, which are only opened by the directing
impulses of the biotic functions” (1983, 2:111). In everyday experience, the physical aspect is
manifested in physical causality (when X happens, Y is following to happen) that manifests a
sort of succession of causes. Succession of causes is grounded in the temporal meaning of the
5
Dooyeweerd considers energy as the primordial force governing the nucleus of cells. Mass and material, which
are important for everyday experience of life, derive from energy and from the combination of cells.
124
kinematics modality (succession of movement), and it is presupposed by it. The temporal

meaning of the physical aspect is related to the measure of succession through clocks, and the
question of measurement of time is deeply related to the subject-object relation in the human
experience of life.

relation
Process of
experience
PHYSICAL Energy Succession of Measurement of Energy
causes—before time by clocks combining cells
and after, in the succession
simultaneity of of forces; It
physical laws presupposes the
biological life.
Table 5: the physical aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The following aspect in the modal order is the biotic modality. Biological phenomenon is
directly related to life. They are not perceptible to the eye of sense; but rather, they represent
how entities function. Life is a function of the entities. The kernel meaning of the biotic
modality is life functions. This modality is grounded in the previous ones, and it is anticipated
in the physical modal aspect.
In the biotic aspect, time reveals itself in the modal meaning of organic development of life in
which the biotic phases of development play an essential role. With reference to the temporal
coherence between modalities (given by the analogical functions), Dooyeweerd assumes that
the biotic and the physical modalities are deeply related and that they are grounded in
kinematic laws.
The biotic time of development cannot be reduced to the kinematic movement, even if it is
presupposed by it. The time of development is described by the succession of life stages. In
the biological modality, movement related to time is not intended as time necessary to go
from a place to another. Rather, it is the development of life stages of all living beings, not
only humans. From the kinematic to the biotic-physical modality, the concept of movement is
developed. From being related to space (movement into physical boundaries), movement is
identified with a way of being, an inner process that cannot be mathematically or physically
limited.
125

Relation
Process of
experience
BIOTIC Life functions Biological Way of being, It is presupposed
development of state of life by energy
life, succession of combined in
life stages— mass and
before and after, material. It is
Equilibrium of anticipated in the
organisms in the kinematics and
environment— physical
simultaneity modalities. It
presupposes the
psychological
feeling of time,
directly
dependent on the
subjective way of
being.
Table 6: the biotic aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The kernel meaning of the sensitive aspect resides in feelings, emotions, and sense. This
modality is related to the biotic one as feelings and emotions depend on the subjective way of
being under a biological point of view. The soul-body act structure that characterizes the
human beings is grounded both in the biological aspect (see the detailed description of the
soul body structure provided in chapter 4) and in the sensitive aspect. Naive and theoretical
experiences are based on the subjective sensitive perception of the surrounding environment.
In the sensitive aspect, time reveals itself in the modal meaning of the life of feeling, which is
the continuous stream of feeling from the very first sensory experience to that of memory of
lived experience. The succession of events in the stream of experience maintains vivid the
feelings and emotions that do not disappear but rest in memory.
Following Dooyeweerd’s theory, “Regarded from the subjective side, the time of feeling is a
non homogenous feeling of duration in the sense intended by Henry Bergson. In this duration
feelings put themselves through in a continuous stream, which cannot be mathematically
divided anymore than we can divide the biotic duration of development . . . the subjective
moments of feelings are not points of time, like the moments in spatial time, but rather
indivisible phases of time . . . which are actually phases of the movement of feeling in the
perception of sensory objects in the space of awareness” (1940, 169).
126

relation
Process of
experience
SENSITIVE Feelings, Life of feeling, Distinction of an It is presupposed
emotions, and sensory outer world and an by energy
sense awareness, inner world; in the combined in
duration of interrelations of mass and
feeling, memory these two worlds, material. It
—simultaneity. sensory experience presupposes the
Temporal phases is disclosed; psychological
of duration of Relation of man- feeling of time,
feeling—before environment directly
and after dependent on the
subjective way of
being.
Table 7: the sensitive aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The following aspect within the modal order is the logical aspect or analytical aspect. Its
nuclei of meaning is making of distinction, abstraction of something from concrete reality.
This aspect contains all those logical functions that are typical of the human theoretical
activity. Dooyeweerd wrote that “theoretical thought, though itself integrated into cosmic
time, in building up its concept of a specific law-sphere must necessarily abstract the latter
from the temporal continuity” (1983, 2:7). The logical aspect is grounded in the sensory
modality as it uses sensory data deriving from sensory perception, and it elaborates them into
logical constructions. What is given together in the naive experience is what is set apart in the
theoretical logical analysis. In the logical aspect, time reveals itself in the logical succession
of prius (prior) and posterius (posterior) and in logical simultaneity. These temporal
meanings define the human theoretical attitude of thought, “although the abstract discursive
form of the syllogism is revealed only in theoretical thought, this certainly does not exclude
the order of the logical prius and posterius from playing any role in pre-theoretical thought”
(Dooyeweerd 1940, 170).

relation
Process of
experience
LOGICAL Analytic Prius and Logical Presupposed by
ANALYTICAL distinction posterius— awareness; The subjective naive
before and after, logical analysis experience
127
coexistence of takes place in the

logical concepts gegenstand
in logical relation.
prediction—
simultaneity
Table 8: the logical aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The following aspect is the historical modality. Its kernel meaning is formative power, as the
controlling manner of moulding the social process (ibid., 1983 2:195). This modality plays a
relevant role within the cosmic temporal order as “it will become more and more transparent
that the historical aspect must really have this special place assigned to it in the retrocipatory
temporal direction as regards the entire opening process of the normative anticipatory spheres.
The historical sphere must in fact be called the nodal point of the entire normative meaning-
dynamics within cosmic time, in so far as all normative deepenings of meaning in the law
spheres have the raising of the cultural level in the historical process . . . ” (ibid., 190).
As Dooyeweerd asserted, “In the historical aspect, time reveals itself in the modal meaning of
development of culture . . . in tradition the historical time of development fuses past, present
and future . . . this order of time also carries a normative modal character. It sets before the
human race a normative task of forming; with its demand for the future, it opposes any inert
resting in the historic present or any vegetating in the past. Historical reaction is the anti-
historical reaching back towards a past that has died away; it turns itself in a reactionary way
against the historical norm of development” (1940, 172). The development of culture is
temporally defined by a succession of historical periods that are not mathematically delimited
from each other. As suggested in chapter 2, these historical periods are transitional moments
from a before situation to an after situation. The succession of transitional moments defines
the cultural and urban evolution of cities. In Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of the law-idea, the
historical aspect plays a relevant role within the temporal intermodal coherence. The temporal
dimension of the historical aspect resides both in the analogical moments of anticipation and
postponing between aspects, and in the flux of events (historical-formative development)
defining the tension between past, present, and future. The following figure could help in
clarifying the role played by the historical aspect with respect to the temporal modal order:
128
PAST PRESENT
Temporal anticipation,
historical aspect presupposes
the following ones
Temporal
retrocipation,
historical aspect
based on
previous ones
Figure 2: the historical aspect within the pyramid of temporal reality. Source: author’s elaboration.
As represented in figure 2, the historical aspect is placed in the middle of the modal order of
temporal reality. The formative power of social relations is the human deliberative activity
that affects the future. It is grounding for the anthropical processes at the core of
environmental and urban sciences. Figure 2 indicates two time directions. The yellow arrows
represent the before and after direction, which is within the modal order. It indicates the
analogical relation of anticipation and retrocipation (postponing) between modalities. The
green arrows indicate the backwards and forwards directions of time. They represent the
historical-temporal line along which the present turns into the past by tending toward the
future. If referred to the urban evolution, the green arrows indicate the direction for the
succession of the transitional moments of change.

relation
Process of
experience
HISTORICAL Formative Development of It represents the Central aspect
FORMATIVE power culture; Tension nuclei of the within the
between past, subjective and temporal modal
present, and collective order
129
future that gives background.

a new direction
of time—before
and after along
the formative
temporal line.
Coexistence of
parts (aspects of
reality) tending
toward the
future—
simultaneity.
Table 9: the historical aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The next modality following the historical one is the linguistic aspect. Its kernel meaning is
symbolic meaning. This aspect is founded in the formative one as “a genuine symbol, in
contradistinction to a natural animal means of expression, always has a cultural and logical
foundation” (Dooyeweerd 1983, 2:381). The lingual aspect represents the normative sphere
within which human beings communicate. Communication and formative processes are
deeply related. With reference to the subject-object relation, the lingual modality “implies
cultural, logical and psychical analogies of a retrocipatory character” (ibid.).
The acquisition of language by the human beings is of basic importance both in naive
experience of surrounding reality and in the forming of logical processes. These processes are
necessary in the theoretical experience as “the gradual acquisition of language not only
increases the child’s ability to understand and communicate but also enables him to grasp
temporal relationships and to extend his ability for temporal conceptualization” (Whitrow
1989, 6).
With reference to the cosmic order of time, the lingual aspect reveals its temporal character in
the pause between speeches, in the tempo of a speech or of a gesture. This aspect anticipates
the social modality in the normative sphere of social forms.

relation
Process of
experience
LINGUAL Symbolic Tempo of a Means of Presupposed by
meaning speech or of a communication, it formative
gesture in the plays an important processes; it
sequence of role in perceiving depends on
utterances and the sensory cultural, logical,
130
replies—before meaning of and psychical

and after, symbols and in the factors. It is
coexistence of logical analysis. grounding for the
elements in the following
sentence— modalities.
simultaneity
Table 10: the lingual aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The social aspect reveals its meaning in social interaction or social forms. This modality
encloses all norms that are basic for social sciences. The social modality is anticipated in the
lingual one as the latter provides the means for the previous to function. Social intercourse, on
which community life is based, needs symbols, signs, gesture to take place. The social
modality represents the sphere where all laws of community life reside. In the social aspect,
time reveals itself in social-temporal forms, which are related to the concept of measurement
of time. Social awareness and sense of time are related to the way a specific community lives
(ibid., 4). Therefore, the forms of social-temporal life are not fixed; but rather, they depend on
specific psychological, formative, and lingual contexts that, on the other hand, are based on
environmental factors.

relation
Process of
experience
SOCIAL Social Social time; it Social forms and Deeply related to
interactions implies social measurement of the
forms of time provide psychological,
measurement of parameters in the formative,
time; shared order to perceive and the lingual
information in the position of modalities; this
social events and entities aspect
interaction— along the presupposes the
before and after; historical-temporal following ones
Shared line. whose
background— functioning is
simultaneity related to social
life.
Table 11: the social aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The kernel meaning of the economic aspect is frugal use of resources or saving of values.
From Dooyeweerd’s standpoint, the economic aspect deals with management of the
household, the capacity of managing resources within known boundaries. As Dooyeweerd
asserted, “Indeed the economic order of time is the normative weighing of the value of the
131
passing away of the saving of time. The whole economic phenomenon of interest rests on a
higher valuation of present above similar future goods” (1940, 173). In this modality, time
assumes a connotation of forecast of future value of money and markets. Issues of this aspect,
such as environmental action in order to preserve environmental goods, waste handling or
consumption, are central to urban planning. The economic aspect is related to the social one,
and most of this aspect can be understood in social terms (as for example, exchange and
markets imply other people). The economic aspect contains echoes of the juridical aspect as
constraints necessary for frugality are law-like.

relation
Process of
experience
ECONOMIC Frugality, Time related to The notion of time This aspect is
saving of value, temporal related to available grounded in
values horizon; resources defines a social relations. It
production, future perspective. is ruled by laws
distribution, and being dependent
consumption— on lingual and
before and after; logical forms.
conservation of The economic
resources— aspect anticipates
simultaneity the aesthetic, the
moral, and the
juridical ones.
Table 12: the economic aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The following aspect within the cosmic modal order is the aesthetic aspect. Its kernel
meaning is “harmony in its original sense, a modal-meaning moment found in all other law-
spheres only in an unoriginal retrocipatory or anticipatory function (cf. Harmony of feeling,
logical harmony, harmony in social intercourse, linguistic harmony, economic and juridical
harmony)” (Dooyeweerd 1983, 2:127–128). In the aesthetic aspect, time reveals itself as a
sort of rhythm related to beautiful harmony, “The aesthetic order of time does not tolerate any
aesthetically empty moments” (ibid., 1940, 173). Dooyeweerd asserted that “the aesthetic
modality of meaning is not possible without economic retrocipation” (1983, 2:128). This
postponing analogical function is named aesthetic economy, and it imposes that “the
aesthetically superfluous, the pilling it on, the overdoing it ought to be warded off in
harmonic sobriety or economy if the harmony is to remain intact” (ibid.).
132

relation
Process of
experience
AESTHETIC Harmony Rhythm of It indicates the Harmony gives
harmony related to subjective coherence to all
each modality; this experience of the aspects.
aspect offers a harmony that is
wide range of deeply related to
rhythms each feelings and
depending on the sensations. It is a
temporal parameter for the
dimension of the “quality” of the
referring modality; system in terms of
the sequence of well being.
rhythm—before
and after;
beautiful harmony
given by the
coexistence of
factors within the
modal order—
simultaneity.
Table 13: the aesthetic aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The kernel meaning of the juridical aspect is justice. The full development of this kernel
meaning is social since it is a postsocial aspect. This modality contains the laws ruling the
relationship among entities (for example social communities). These laws give to the social
relationship a sort of “symmetry” as each entity has a “due.” The juridical aspect contains
echoes of the pistic one (faith aspect) in the injunction to obey the law. Within the intermodal
dependency, the juridical aspect requires the analytical one for clear thinking without being
bound to it. Dooyeweerd affirms that “the juridical aspect of human experience, as being a
specific province of thought, is actually wrenched from the cosmic inter modal coherence of
meaning. Instead it is made into a species of a transcendental-logical genus, which in its turn
is conceived only in an antithetic-logical relation with the natural-scientific category of
causality” (ibid., 17).

meaning meaning object interdependency
relation
Process of
experience
133
JURIDICAL Justice Lateness or delay Juridical It depends on the

as a form of norms rule logical aspect for
nonperformance, social life as a clear
the coming to each entity has understanding of
naught (over time) a due. norms.
of claims and
contracts—before
and after;
coexisting applied
laws in the context
of the action—
simultaneity
Table 14: the juridical aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The kernel meaning of the moral aspect is self-giving love. In this aspect, time reveals itself
in the love for neighbour in giving help or support when it is needed. All the forms of love
require our time (Dooyeweerd 1940, 174); they require the duties of love for one’s elders or
one’s children, the love of marriage, comradeship, etc. This aspect is relevant for both naive
and theoretical subjective experiences of reality, as it drives human actions by levering on the
subjective sense of community. This aspect has a longer term impact on the society as a
whole. Dooyeweerd asserted that “love is the very totality of meaning, the religious radical
unity of all temporal modal diversity of law-spheres” (1983, 2:144). With reference to the
intermodal coherence, the ethical aspect has a great relevance as it enables things to be truly
good (Basden, A. available in www.salford.ac.uk/aspects.html). This important role of the
moral aspect is
demonstrated by our previous analysis of the anticipatory moments in the modal

structure of the legal law-sphere, which, as soon as they are realized in a positive legal
order, appear to open and deepen the retributive meaning of this modal sphere. Modal
meaning-figures, such as juridical guilt, good faith, good morals, equity, and so on,
undeniably refer to a later modal aspect of experience which cannot be designated by
another term than the moral or ethical sphere. The anticipatory meaning moments
concerned refer neither immediately to the faith-aspect, nor immediately to the central
religious sphere. In pre-juridical aspects, such as the psychical, we have also
discovered anticipatory relations with an ethical law-sphere. This does not prove the
existence of a natural morality apart from the religious centre of human existence. It
proves only that in the temporal modal horizon of experience there exists a modal
ethical aspect which is not to be identified with the super-modal sphere of religion, nor
with the aspect of faith. (ibid., 2:148).
134

relation
Process of
experience
ETHICAL Self-giving love Time required by Ethical laws rule It is important for
all forms of the subjective all the previous
love—before and experience of modalities. Love
after; community living; gives coherence
Coexistence of long-term impact to the whole
forms of love— on the society modal order.
simultaneity. intended as a
whole.
Table 15: the moral aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
In the faith aspect, time reveals itself in its pointing to eternity. The kernel meaning of this
modality is vision, relationship to God and belief. Following Dooyeweerd’s thought, the
modal meaning-nucleus of the faith aspect “can only be theoretically approximated as an
original transcendental certainty, within the limits of time, related to a revelation . . . which
have captured the heart of human existence. This is the only meaning-nucleus that points
above time without the intermediary of modal anticipations. And that is why, strictly
speaking, no concept of the faith-aspect is possible” (ibid., 304). The faith aspect is the last
one in the established succession of the modal order. In this modality, time points to eternity,
to the future. Dooyeweerd asserted that this modality is the “transcendental terminal function
of the entire (earthly) empirical reality” (ibid., 305). The faith aspect has no anticipatory
sphere; but all modalities, from the numerical to the ethical one, point to it and to the religious
roots of the temporal world it represents. The temporal coherence of the modal order
converges in this modality. In religious terms, within the faith aspect, first and last coexist.
They are enclosed in the figure of Jesus who is the origin and the end of everything. If
referred to urban planning, the faith aspect encloses the expectations for the future. These
expectations can be satisfied by action. The first and the last, in planning terms, are the last
cause (an expectation derived by specific needs) for change (first effect) in the transitional
moment of change. The faith aspect is the end of the succession of before and after (the top of
the modal order) and the beginning of the following succession (the bottom of the modal
order) along the historical-temporal arrow (the green arrow in figure 2).
135

relation
Process of
experience
FAITH Belief Pointing to Faith represents It represents the
eternity; the force giving temporal
creation, fall, and subjective converging
redemption— experience a future aspect. All
before and after; dimension. It modalities point
coexistence of the conditions the to faith aspect
first and the last; experiential phase. through the
the top of the temporal
modal order coherence.
tending to its
bottom in the
succession of
transitional
moments—
simultaneity.
Table 16: the faith aspect. Source: author’s elaboration.
The above proposed analysis of the modal order has been aimed at clarifying the temporal
relations between aspects. The following frame provides an analysis of the modal order in
which all the emerging temporal intermodal relations are disclosed. In the following table,
when needed, some graphical representations are provided in order to help in understanding
the existing relations between the modal aspects:
LAW SIDE OF THE MODAL TEMPORAL ORDER

Modality Kernel meaning Temporal meaning
Numerical Earlier and later Before and after It represents an irreversible order
of time. The modal order is
based on the concept of measure
of temporal succession. The
terms before and after
presuppose a dynamic evolution
of the system of reality. The
ground motive is becoming.
Reality is a dynamic system
based on the succession of
moments intended as temporal
points.
136
The numerical aspect anticipates the spatial aspect as it provides the concept of number. Earlier and later
represent the succession of numbers as major and minor quantities. Before and after represent the position of
numbers in the temporal succession. The following spatial aspect is grounded in numbers, and the numerical
laws are proper of its normative sphere. The concept of measure is developed in the spatial aspect by width,
length, and height.
The spatial aspect posticipates the numerical aspect as it is grounded in numbers. Spatial mathematical laws
(geometry) are based on simple numerical relations.
Spatial Continuous extension Spatial simultaneity This aspect encloses the concept
of pure space (form and matter
in ancient Greek philosophy).
Space represents a universal
concept to be found in all
following modalities, even in
Same space for an different ways. Continuous
object being subject to extension indicates the infinite
change in the character of space, which is not
succession of before to be intended just as physical
and after (succession of boundaries of a place, but as
moments) qualifying element of all aspects
of reality.
The spatial aspect, in its pure temporal meaning, anticipates the aspect of movement as it represents the arena
for the kinematics laws to take place (not just intended as change of place but also as change of state).
Posticipation in the nuclea- temporal meaning of the aspect of space in the aspect of movement is clearly
evident in the development of the concept of spatial simultaneity with the introduction of a temporal-spatial
relative element.
Movement Pure flowing Succession of In the aspect of movement, the
movement, having no movement in which the temporal validity of the spatial
cause and no change; spatial simultaneity has aspect is underlined. The aspect
flowing space in the a relative character of movement adds to the spatial
temporal succession simultaneity, the temporal
of its movement succession of movement (before
and after).
Change of place of an
object being subject to
change. The temporal
succession of before
and after and the
succession of
movement. The
temporal relative
character resides in the
terms here and now. To
a succession of defined
moments, it
corresponds to a
succession of defined
points in place
(temporal spatial
location)
Here and now =
simultaneity
Succession of
movement = before and
after
The aspect of movement, intended as pure flowing, anticipates the biotic succession of stages of life. The
biotic aspect is grounded in the physical one that is anticipated in the aspect of movement. The physical and
the biotic aspects are deeply connected.
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The law sphere of the physical aspect is grounded in the kernel meanings of the previous aspects. The
temporal coherence given by the succession of temporal meanings increases from the numerical to the
physical aspect in a linear succession of temporal relations.
Physical Energy Succession of causes This aspect is grounded in
succession of movement that is
intended as the succession of
causes and effects. Such a
movement presupposes change
occurring through the temporal
succession of before and after.
change
The physical aspect anticipates the biotic one as physical laws are grounding for life functions. The temporal
coherence of anticipation is given by the kernel meanings of the aspect of movement. Life is dynamic and is
based on the concept of succession.
The retroactive temporal character of the biotic aspect is to be found in its being directly based on the
numerical, the spatial, the kinematic, and the physical meanings. It introduces a new direction of time that
cannot be found in the previous aspects.
Biotic Life functions Organic development of The biotic aspect introduces the
life; succession of life temporal dimension of life
stages based on the evolution. This dimension is
succession of causes grounded in the previous
and effects (before and aspects, although it is of a
after) different length and rhythm. In
this modality, time assumes a
new connotation and takes a new
direction.
Coexistence of life
functions and organisms
(simultaneity)
The biotic aspect anticipates the sensitive one. In the sensitive aspect, living creatures function; among these
creatures, human beings “feel” and experience the surrounding reality.
The sensitive aspect is grounded in the temporal dimensions (kernel meanings) of the previous ones. The law
sphere of this modality is related to the sensitive sphere of the human beings (act-soul and body structure).
Sensitive Feelings, emotions, Temporal phases of The sensitive aspect introduces
sense duration of feeling another temporal dimension
named durée. It is the continuous
flowing of feeling and emotion
through time (succession of
before and after) through the
experience of space (intended in
all its aspects, not just as spatial
boundaries) of surrounding
Temporal duration of reality, by the sensory awareness
feelings resides in the of change (succession of cause
act-soul body and effect) deeply related to a
structure
subjective stage of life.
Succession of phases =
before and after
Coexistence of feelings
= simultaneity
The deep connection of the sensitive aspect to the logical aspect depends on the concept of experience.
Sensitive experience is pretheoretical. All the temporal dimensions playing a role in the sensitive (naive)
experience are grounding for the theoretical experience. The interdependency between the sensitive and the
logical aspects defined by Dooyeweerd has a temporal character (interconnected temporal dimensions).
The logical aspect is grounded in experience. This aspect is deeply related to the cognitive capacity of human
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beings. It retrocipates (it contains and is grounded in) all temporal dimensions as defined in the previous
aspects.
Logical Making of distinction, Prius and posterius = This aspect is the expression of
abstraction from before and after; the cognitive action. Theoretical
concrete reality logical simultaneity experience is based on logical
presuppositions.
Logical cognition
resides in the soul-
body act structure
The logical aspect represents the sphere for the cognitive action of the human beings. The following
formative aspect is grounded in sensitive and logical presuppositions.
The formative (historical) aspect encloses all those temporal dimensions defined in the previous aspects.
Historical (formative) Formative power Development of culture, This aspect makes the tension
succession of historical between past, present, and future
periods through the evident. It defines a new
succession of time direction for time, another
(before and after); temporal dimension: tension.
coexistence of memory
patterns (simultaneity)
PAST FUTURE
PRESENT
The historical aspect represents the evolution of culture. It is grounded in the previous aspects in meanings
and temporal dimensions. It anticipates the lingual aspect in the need for “communication.”
The lingual aspect defines the meaning of language and communication. The meaning of gestures and signs
resides in their formative ground motive.
Lingual Symbolic meaning Tempo of a speech, This aspect concerns language,
tempo of a gesture; symbols, and signs. They are the
succession of utterances expression of tradition and
= before and after culture, and they represent part
of rituals. The temporal
dimension is directly dependent
on their formative character, and
it is not separated from the social
condition.
The lingual aspect anticipates the meaning of the social aspect. Temporal dimension of symbols and gesture,
as related to their formative character, defines temporal social aspects. The communicative aspect anticipates
forms of social life.
The social aspect encloses the laws that rule social life. It contains all the temporal dimensions defined in the
previous aspects.
Social Social interaction, Social forms of time- In the social aspect, time is
social forms sharing information = measured with reference to
before and after; social life. Social events and
shared background = rituals beat the time (rhythm) of
simultaneity social life.
The social aspect is grounding for the following economic aspect. Social forms of interaction(communities)
presuppose an economic aspect that is to be intended as management of the household.
The economic aspect is grounded in the social and the formative aspects. The temporal dimension of the
economic aspect derives from the temporal dimensions of the previous aspects. It is presupposed by the
existence of social relations.
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Economic Saving of values Forecast of future The economic aspect is a full

value; social aspect. The temporal
preserving resources = dimension of the economic
simultaneity; aspect resides in the social
production, distribution, interaction.
and consumption =
before and after
The economic aspect anticipates the following aesthetic, juridical, and moral aspects.
The aesthetic aspect posticipates all the previous postsocial aspects. Pure harmony provides equilibrium, “a
sense of” within the aspects.
Aesthetic Pure harmony Rhythm of harmony, for The concept of pure harmony
each aspect’s harmony can be reconnected to that of
has a different nuance; pure space. Harmony, like space,
harmony given by the is present in all aspects; for each
coexistence of elements of them, it takes a different
= simultaneity; connotation. The concept of
succession of aspects harmony defines equilibrium.
giving harmony =
before and after
The aesthetic aspect gives coherence to all modalities. The concept of harmony anticipates the sense of justice
and the sense of community that are meanings of the juridical and the moral aspects.
The temporal dimension of the juridical aspect is relative. Delay or lateness is measured with respect to social
and economic aspects.
Juridical Justice Lateness or delay as a The juridical aspect is a full
form of social aspect. It is anticipated in
nonperformance = the aesthetic aspect in the
before and after; concept of harmony, which takes
coexistence of laws, the form of sense of justice.
norms, and rules =
simultaneity
The juridical aspect presupposes the moral aspect although they are of a different nature.
The moral aspect “displays” in a social context, and it finds its temporal coherence only with reference to the
entire modal system. Love, as well as harmony, is a measure for temporal coherence.
Moral Self-giving love Time required for love The moral aspect is a full social
for one’s neighbour = aspect. It encloses the laws that
before and after; rule the life in common and give
coexistence of forms of quality to it.
love = simultaneity The temporal dimension of this
aspect is subjective.
The moral aspect is next to the faith aspect. Moral living or love for one’s neighbour is an anticipation of love
for God.
The faith aspect is the temporal coherence of the entire modal order. Like a prism, the “temporal light”
enclosed in this aspect refracts in all previous modalities by creating an indissoluble liaison.
Faith Vision, relationship to Pointing to eternity; The faith aspect is the
God, belief creation, fall, and transcendental terminal function
redemption = before of the entire (earthly) modal
and after; order. The whole temporal
coexistence of needs, coherence of the modal order
expectations as reasons converges in this aspect.
for action =
simultaneity
Table 17: the Law side of the temporal modal order. Source: author’s elaboration.
Table 17 is aimed at defining the guiding temporal dimensions and directions existing within
the modal order. From the numerical to the faith aspect, time becomes a more and more
complex element. The numerical aspect, as a grounding modality for all the following ones, is
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based on the succession of temporal moments (before and after). This succession is the
measure of the rhythm beating the temporal coherence within the modal order.
Dooyeweerd proposed an order of aspects structured in time. In particular, the modal order is
based on the succession of aspects. The modal order represents reality as defined by a given
succession of aspects. These aspects change through the historical flowing of time. As
suggested in figure 2, the direction for the formative evolution of reality indicated by the
green arrows is defined by the succession of modal orders through time; such a succession is
given by change. The evolution of the urban contexts can be defined in a similar way.
Through the historical time flowing, by the deliberative human action affecting the future,
cities evolve. In chapter 2, the urban context has been defined as a cultural text, written,
corrected, and rewritten through the centuries. Cities are grounded in time; they are temporal
palimpsests. The historical-formative direction of time is, thus, of great importance in urban
planning.
Reality has a dynamic character. The succession of before and after, as defined by
Dooyeweerd, is a measure of the ongoing succession of aspects. The spatial aspect introduces
the concept of simultaneity. In this aspect, the succession of number of the numerical aspect is
spatially located in a fixed position. There is no change of place, not even movement. Time
moments succeed, and the spatial fixed points (also entities) are subject to change. In table 17,
the spatial modality is described by the following graph:
Spatial boundaries
defined by spatial
extensiveness
Fixed spatial point

(example: a living or
not living entity) that
is subject to change
Succession of
temporal moments
(before and after)
Figure 3: the spatial simultaneity. Source: author’s elaboration.
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As represented in figure 3, the spatial simultaneity is given by the immobility of the entity in a
fixed space in a continuous succession of time. In the spatial modality, space and time are put
into relation. This contraposition of spatial rest and temporal movement requires equilibrium,
anticipating movement within space. The analogical moment of anticipation, giving temporal
coherence between the number and the spatial aspects, resides in the need for equilibrium, in a
sort of tension between space and time.
Succession, tension, and equilibrium are the basic concepts for understanding how time and
space interrelate in order to shape reality. The movement aspect’s meaning is pure flowing
movement, having no reason and no cause. It introduces a relative character between space
and time through the succession of movement. In the movement aspect, concepts like dynamic
temporal succession, static spatial extensiveness, movement within space are disclosed.
Spatial boundaries
defined by spatial
extensiveness
Fixed spatial point

(example a living or
not living entity) that
A
is subject to change
B
Succession of
temporal moments
(before and after)
Figure 4 movement and tension between space and time. Source: author’s elaboration.
The movement from A to B made by an entity in space gives to the space-time relation a
relative character. This character resides in the increasing value defined by the yellow arrow
as represented in figure 4. A movement in space is indissolubly connected to a succession of
time. From A to B, the spatial coordinates change; and the temporal succession of before and
after increases. In the relation between space and time, the concept of change emerges. The
need for an equilibrate relation of space with time (temporal succession of before and after)
with respect to change anticipates movement in the physical aspect.
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As suggested in table 17, the physical aspect’s temporal meaning is succession of causes and
effects. In an incessant succession of moments, a series of causes generates movement. This
movement can be defined as change of spatial location or change of state in life. From the
spatial to the biological aspect, the continuous tension between space and time (rest and
movement), lying at the ground of the modal order, generates spatial and biological
movement.
The first five grounding aspects of the modal order are characterized by the tension between
space and time. This interrelation is conflicting in a creative way. Time, as succession of
before and after, is an ordinate succession of moments (temporal points) in an infinite
temporal extension. Space is presupposed by this temporal extension. In the modal order, time
and space are not separated and not in contraposition; rather, they are interconnected aspects.
Space is grounded in time.
At the light of the previous analysis, it is possible to affirm that the first five modalities define
the following time dimensions and directions:
• Numerical: it is the succession of before and after, increasing continuous flowing and
adding of moments (like succession of numbers). It can be called T0 and represented
by a arrow from 0 to ∞ 0 ∞
• Spatial: No added time dimension. Space is originated by T0 tending to infinity.
Within this modality, mobility and rest are in a creative tension.
• Movement: Succession of pure movement in space. This gives to space a relative
character in a specific place (spatial aspect) at a specific succession of moments
(numerical aspect). This space-time relation, basic for all the following modalities,
introduces a time dimension that can be called T1; and it can be defined as the time
necessary to go from A to B. T1 is different from T0 as the latter expresses a number,
a fixed position in time, while the previous is a length of time.
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1 2 3 4 ∞
T0 succession of moments
T1 length of time
Movement
Figure 5: tension between space and time. Source: author’s elaboration.
The T1 dimension assumes a great importance with respect to the concept of

duration. This becomes evident in the relationship man-environment, in particular,
for what the human sensitive experience of the surrounding environment is
concerned. The tension between time and space generates movement. Movement is
related to change; and, as expressed in chapter 3 and 4, through change the human
being perceives the passing of time.
• Physical: Succession of causes. It is the link between the movement and the biological
aspects. The physical causes are anticipated in the movement aspect as cause for
change of location. The succession of causes generating change defines the
biological life. The physical aspect introduces a time dimension that is a length—T2
indicates the frequency of succession of causes with reference to the succession of
before and after expressed by T0. This temporal dimension, as grounding element of
the law side of cosmic time, is very important in the subjective human experience,
both sensitive and theoretical ones.
1 2 3 4 ∞ T0 succession of moments
T2 succession of causes
T1 lenght of time
Movement
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Figure 6 temporal succession of causes. Source: author’s elaboration.
• Biological: As succession of stages of life, the meaning of this aspect derives directly
from the physical temporal meaning. Biological life is divided into stages whose
succession is due to specific causes. The biological aspect indicates an increasing
time direction. Through the flowing of time (succession of moments), a change in
nature (human or environmental one) occurs; and it is due to more or less evident
causes. The biological aspect defines the T3 temporal dimension that is the
frequency and succession of life stages. The following frame helps in understanding
this temporal dimension:
1 2 3 4 ∞ T0 succession of moments
T2 succession of causes
T1 lenght of time
Stages of life
T3 lenght of time
Movement as succession of
life stages
Figure 7: temporal succession of life stages. Source: author’s elaboration.
As suggested in figure 7, T3 is equal to T1 with a different relative character. It does not

express a relation between the physical space and time; rather, it defines the relation between
the biological space and time. In the biological aspect, the concept of space is related to that
of life. Movement does not indicate a change of location, but rather, a change of state. The
horizon of the biological temporal space is long.
The above-suggested considerations are summarized in the following table:
Aspect Temporal meaning Time dimension/measure Temporal horizon

originated in the aspect originated within the
law side
Numerical Succession of before and after T0, measure, quantity Limited to numbers
Pure BA
Spatial Spatial simultaneity No time No temporal horizon
Pure S dimension/measure
Movement Succession of pure movement T1, length of time, Related to change
BA + S dimension derived from movement
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Physical Succession of causes T2, length of time, Limited to T2 length

BA + S frequency of succession of
causes
Biological Succession of life stages T3, length of time Related to life space
BA + S
Table 18: The five grounding modalities. BA indicates before and after; S indicates simultaneity. Source: author’s
elaboration of data available at www.dooy.salford.ac.uk/time.html#aspects.ab
The sixth ordered aspect in the modal order is the sensitive one. It is related to the sensitive
sphere ruling feelings and emotions, which are basic in the pretheoretical human experience
of reality. The sensitive aspect is characterized by the T4 time dimension. It is defined as
duration of feelings and emotions, which are originated during perception. This time
dimension is a continuous flowing of emotions that belong to the subjective human sphere.
The T4 time dimension is related to the subjective sphere of the human beings. The logical
aspect is characterized by the temporal meanings prius (prior) and posterius (posterior) and
logical simultaneity, and it indicates the cognitive action. This aspect defines the logical
sphere of the human theoretical experience. The logical aspect originates a time dimension
that can be called T5. It defines a logically ordinate succession of events, facts, objects, or
cognitive acts. It represents a typical human activity in a temporal spatial relation. The
sensitive and the logical aspects deal with the soul-body act structure that was defined by
Dooyeweerd and whose description is provided in chapter 4. As suggested, Dooyeweerd
conceived the human being as being composed of five interrelating levels:
Figure 8: the soul-body act structure. Source: author’s elaboration.
Figure 8 indicates that the soul-body act structure is grounded in the first five aspects of the
modal order. The psychochemical and biotic levels are grounded in the physical and
biological aspects that, at their turn, have origin in the spatial and the numerical ones.
The psychic level of the soul-body act structure is rooted in the sensitive aspect, while the act
level is rooted in the logical one. The soul, as the central sphere in the structure, resides in
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religion, as Dooyeweerd strongly asserted; and it is rooted in the faith aspect. The soul-body
act structure is a human space that is indissolubly linked with the five grounding aspects of
the modal order, and they are disclosed in the sensitive and the logical aspects. The soul-body
act structure connects the first seven aspects (the numerical, the spatial, the movement, the
physical, the biological, the sensitive, and the logical) to the faith aspect by embracing and
giving coherence to them. The following figure can help in clarifying these relations:
Numerical
Spatial
Movement
Physical
biological
Sensitive
logical
Formative
Lingual
Social
Economic
aesthetic
juridical
moral
Faith
Figure 9: the relation of the modal order/soul-body act structure. Source: author’s elaboration.
The soul-body act structure is deeply rooted in the modal order. As suggested in figure 9,
within the modal order, the human being is represented by the sensitive in the logical and in
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the faith aspects. It is grounded in the first five modalities, and it experiences the surrounding
environment both in the natural and in social terms.
Following the logical aspect is the formative modality. The formative aspect whose temporal
meaning is development of culture has validity if related to the human act structure. The
formative power provides the continuous evolution of reality as a whole. As suggested above,
the historical modality projects the whole modal order to a new temporal direction. This
direction derives from the tension between past, present, and future. It represents the
succession of the temporal phases defining the historical evolution of reality.
Law side
Formative aspect
Temporal coherence
T6 Development of culture
T6
Figure 10: temporal directions. Source: author’s elaboration.
The T6 temporal dimension indicated by the green arrow in figure 10 has two directions, past
and future, that are linked by present. Through this temporal flowing, human action becomes
reaction on the surrounding reality. The formative aspect represents the cultural-historical
background of people and communities.
The lingual aspect is based on the symbolic meaning of language and gesture. It provides the
means for the human beings to interact in a social context. The meaning of language, signs,
and symbols is rooted in the formative aspect. By the use of signs and gestures, the human
beings (soul-body act structures) communicate and share their subjective experience of the
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surrounding environment. Dooyeweerd defines the temporal meaning of the lingual aspect as
tempo of a gesture (1940). Signs and symbols are typical expressions of a culture; they are
rooted in the temporal dimension of the formative aspect. In the lingual aspect, the temporal
dimension T7 comes to surface. It represents the tempo of a speech, of a symbol, or of a
gesture. This time dimension represents the speed of communication, and it is related to the
way people communicate and share their personal experiences.
The social aspect is based on the lingual one. By communicating, people interact and create a
social context. The temporal meaning of the social aspect is social intercourse or social forms
of time. The temporal dimension T8 is time spent to share, to communicate. It is a variable
measure, and it is related to the measurement of time by clocks and calendars.
The social and the lingual aspects represent the link among single soul-body act structures.
They represent a passage from the individual to the collective character of human nature; and
in Dooyeweerdian terms, they describe the I-thou relation (see chapter 4).
The economic, the aesthetic, the juridical, and the moral aspects are postsocial modalities; and
they rule social life. The temporal meaning of the economic aspect is forecast of future value.
The temporal dimension coming to surface is T9, time to forecast; and it depends on social
conditions. The aesthetic modality represents the continuous flowing of harmony. It gives
coherence to all modalities. Its temporal dimension is T10; and it represents the rhythm of
harmony and beauty, the equilibrium within and among modalities.
The temporal meaning of the juridical aspect is lateness or delay as a form of

nonperformance. It is a postsocial aspect, and its temporal dimension is related to the social
context. Both justice and economy are important aspects in social life. They are representative
of the needs and the expectations of a social community, and their temporal dimensions have
usually short temporal horizons. It is possible to define T11 as the time dimension of the
juridical aspect, indicating the measure for delay due to specific prohibitions introduced by
laws.
The moral aspect is love for one’s neighbour. Its time dimension T12 indicates time spent for
one’s neighbour. The moral modality defines an important part of social life.
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The human soul resides in the faith aspect. This aspect is the religious sphere of human life,
and it encloses the whole temporal coherence of the modal order. It projects time toward the
future, toward eternity. The time dimension T13, concretized in the faith aspect, is future.
The above considerations on the modal time dimensions can be represented by the following
figure:
Numerical Grounding
aspects
Spatial Mathematical
Prehuman
Movement
Physical
Biological
Related to the
soul-body act
structure.
Human
Sensitive
Logical
background
Formative
Lingual
Passage from
Social
individuality
to collectivity
Economic
Aesthetic
Juridical Postsocial
aspects. Laws
Moral ruling social
life
Faith Eternity, central

in the soul-body
act structure
Figure 11: the modal order as divided into groups. Source: author’s elaboration.
As suggested by figure 11, the modal order can be divided into five groups:
1. The grounding modalities, including the numerical, the spatial, the movement, the
physics, and the biological. The temporal coherence of the whole modal order is based
on these modalities. They are mathematical, prehuman aspects.
2. Modalities that are directly related to the soul-body act structure. They include the
sensitive and the logical aspects. The faith aspect encloses the law sphere that is
central in the human existence.
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3. The formative aspect that is central in the modal order. It indicates the development of
history and culture, and it defines the shared background of the urban or rural
community.
4. The lingual and the social aspects represent the passage from individuality to
collectivity. Human beings (soul-body act structures) interact socially by using
symbols and signs that are rooted in their shared common culture.
5. Postsocial modalities that are law spheres ruling social life. These modalities are the
economic, the aesthetic, the juridical, and the moral ones. They are postsocial aspects.
The following table sums up the aspects, their temporal meanings, their related temporal
dimensions:
Aspect Temporal meaning Time dimension/measure

originated in the aspect
Numerical Succession of before and after T0, measure, quantity
Spatial Spatial simultaneity No time
dimension/measure
Movement Succession of pure movement T1, length of time,
dimension
Physical Succession of causes T2, length of time,
frequency of succession of
causes
Biological Succession of life stages T3, length of time
Sensitive Duration of feelings and emotions T4
Logical Succession of prior and posterior T5
Formative Development of culture T6, length of time
Lingual Tempo of signs and symbols T7, speed of
communication
Social Social interaction, time spent to T8, measure of time by
share social life, to communicate clocks and calendars
Economic Forecast of future value T9, time to save value,
length of time
Aesthetic Beauty, harmony T10, flowing of beauty
and harmony
Juridical Delay or lateness as a form of T11, span of time
nonperformance
Moral Time spent for one’s neighbour’s T12, span of time
love
Faith Eternity T13, pointing to the future
Figure 12: temporal dimensions and horizons. Source: author’s elaboration.
4. Conclusions and Further Work
In the investigation of the temporal modal order proposed in this chapter, the following
important concepts have come to surface:
1. The grounding role of the numerical aspect. The first aspect in the temporal coherence
of the modal order is number, a succession of before and after moments, whose
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continuous flowing generates all successive temporal dimensions. This concept

contains echoes of Aristotle’s Physics, “And so, whenever we notice the now as one,
neither as before and after in motion <and hence as two> nor as the same thing
belonging to something before and something after, no time seems to have passed,
because there seems to have been no motion. But whenever we notice the before and
after, then we say that there is time. for this is what time is: the number of motion in
respect of before and after. Time then is not motion, it is what makes motion have
number . . . time is some sort of number. Number, however is of two types. Both what
is counted and countable and what we count it by are called number. Time then is
what is counted, not what we count with. What we count with and what is counted are
different” (cited in Irwin and Fine 1995, 130). In accordance with Aristotle’s thinking,
Dooyeweerd based the temporal structure of the modal order on number. Through the
succession of temporal moments (before and after), time is counted. Number is what
we count with.
2. The creative tension between number and space. From the contraposition of mobility
(temporal succession within the numerical aspect) and rest (spatial extensiveness), it
derives the need for movement. The temporal succession of the numerical aspect
creates a sort of tension within the spatial aspect. This generates the need for
movement that is, then, satisfied by the movement aspect. The interrelation between
the numerical, the spatial, and the movement aspects creates the dynamic temporal-
spatial coherence of the modal order.
3. The mutual interrelation between the law side and entity side of cosmic time. Within
the modal order, the two sides of cosmic time are interdependent. The human beings
interact with their surrounding environment. They are entities acting in an anthropical
environment that is the result of a long process of interaction through time. The law
side provides the temporal coherence, the mutual temporal interdependence between
aspects. The entity side is the subjective side of cosmic time. It is represented by both
the human sensitive and theoretical experiences of the temporal structure of reality.
The interrelation between the law side and the entity side of cosmic time is disclosed
in the subject-object relation (sensitive experience of reality) and in the gegenstand-
relation (theoretical experience of reality). Change given by action is the result of the
interrelation of law side/entity side of cosmic time.
4. There are three main time directions that have emerged from the analysis of the modal
order:
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i. The direction from T0 to T13, a vertical direction defining the temporal

coherence of the modal order. It is indicated by the yellow arrows in
figure 2.
ii. The T6 forward and backward directions, a horizontal direction
denoting the succession of historical time periods. It is indicated by the
green arrows in figure 2.
iii. The pointing toward future direction defined by T13 within the faith
aspect.
The above-listed concepts that have emerged from the analysis of the temporal modal order
indicate that all the aspects have a relevant weight within the order itself. The fifteen
modalities represent a coherent structured whole whose meaning and validity reside in the
interrelation of all its parts.
As suggested in the previous chapter, this thesis aims to define a frame to support urban
planners. The investigation of the concept of space and time, provided in chapter 3, has
introduced Dooyeweerd’s cosmonomic philosophy. His multifaceted and integrated approach
to the question of reality has been analyzed in its main aspects. This study has demonstrated
that Dooyeweerd’s philosophy can be meaningful in describing and analyzing urban contexts.
The set of fifteen modalities shows the different fields of investigation that play a relevant
role in urban planning. Dooyeweerd links all the aspects of reality by time. His philosophy
indicates a direction toward a time-oriented integrated approach to urban planning. In the
following chapter, the emerged Dooyeweerdian philosophical concepts are further analyzed.
In order to test the concrete application of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of time to urban
planning, chapter 6 introduces the framework developed by Prof. Patrizia Lombardi for her
PhD thesis in 1999. This framework indicates a list of issues related to the built environment
(BE issues). In each modality, the defined BE issues are integrated by a set of temporal issues.
153

The Temporal Modal Structure: Defining The Existing Temporal Relations Within The Fifteen Dooyeweerdian Modalities

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The Temporal Modal Structure: Defining The Existing Temporal Relations Within The Fifteen Dooyeweerdian Modalities

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Chapter V.

The Temporal Modal Structure: Defining the Existing Temporal Relations

Democritus, Dialect Between Intellect and the Senses

Time is the bedrock of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of reality. As suggested in chapter 4, the

Naive experience Theoretical experience

Figure 1: naive and theoretical experience. (Source: author’s elaboration)

This chapter is aimed at a deeper investigation of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy of time. As

2. The Philosophy of the Law-Idea: Grounding Concepts

• The Archimedean point

The concept of the Archimedean point is of great importance in understanding Dooyeweerd’s

Following current philosophical end literary definitions, an Archimedean point is a

Dooyeweerd considered the Archimedean point in philosophy as transcendental, enclosed in

2.2 Entities and Systems

2.3 The Subject-Object Relation and the Understanding of Temporal Reality

The philosopher Edmund Husserl provides an interesting description of the subject-object

experiencing is the subject-object relation conceived in the integral structures of individuality

In an article published in 1975, Dooyeweerd wrote, “The subject-object relation by which we

The above assertions suggest that, in Dooyeweerd’s philosophy

3. The theory of modal aspects: modalities as aspects of temporal reality.

governed, enabling entities to function in a variety of ways. In A New Critique of Theoretical

Modalities Nuclei of meaning

3. 1 The Analysis of Modalities with Reference to Their Functioning As Part of the

The modality of quantity—the numerical modality—can be summarized in the following

approximates the meaning of kinematic time, in so far as it anticipates the meaning of

The modality of space can be summarized in the following frame:

Modal Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Kinematic space is an example of a complex retrocipation founded directly in its

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

kinematics modality (succession of movement), and it is presupposed by it. The temporal

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Modal Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

coexistence of takes place in the

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

future that gives background.

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

replies—before meaning of and psychical

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Modal aspect Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

JURIDICAL Justice Lateness or delay Juridical It depends on the

demonstrated by our previous analysis of the anticipatory moments in the modal

Modal Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

Modal Nuclei of Temporal Subject- Temporal modal

LAW SIDE OF THE MODAL TEMPORAL ORDER

Economic Saving of values Forecast of future The economic aspect is a full

Fixed spatial point

Figure 3: the spatial simultaneity. Source: author’s elaboration.

Fixed spatial point

Figure 5: tension between space and time. Source: author’s elaboration.

The T1 dimension assumes a great importance with respect to the concept of

Figure 7: temporal succession of life stages. Source: author’s elaboration.

As suggested in figure 7, T3 is equal to T1 with a different relative character. It does not

The above-suggested considerations are summarized in the following table:

Aspect Temporal meaning Time dimension/measure Temporal horizon

Physical Succession of causes T2, length of time, Limited to T2 length

Figure 8: the soul-body act structure. Source: author’s elaboration.

Figure 10: temporal directions. Source: author’s elaboration.

The temporal meaning of the juridical aspect is lateness or delay as a form of

Faith Eternity, central

Aspect Temporal meaning Time dimension/measure