roy clouser philosophy as dependable analysis

8/10/2019 Roy Clouser Philosophy as Dependable Analysis

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Philosophy as Dependable Analysis:

Roy Clouser's Contribution to Christian Scholarship

Part I

Introduction: How Does Christian Belief Relate to Theories

It was in 1965 that Roy Clouser's academic career began when helanded a job as instructor in symbolic logic at Rutgers University, ew!ersey" #ince then, he has wor$ed %ull&time as an academic, doing whathilosohers usually do these days & underta$e various researchrojects, deliver lectures and ublish boo$s" In a recent article ()**+ o"1-, he e.lained his early hilosohical interest with these words/

An interest in philosophy had infected me at an early age and, as everyone whohas it knows, it is incurable. And right from its onset, my concern was always how

to deal with philosophical issues from a Christian point of view. So I wrestled withsuch questions as: Is philosophy merely nonChristian theology! If not, "ust howdoes Christian belief relate to theories!

In this essay I introduce the collection o% Roy Clouser's writings" 0hesewritings, many o% which can be accessed %rom thell o% 2i%e Redeemedwebsite, are the ublished results o% his hilosohical wrestling with suchbasic 3uestions" #o, in this essay I am see$ing to address students who,li$e Clouser, are thin$ing about hilosohical issues but %irst want ananswer to a reliminary 3uestion & How does what I belie!e relate totheories

2et me try to summarise Clouser's answer in a %ew aragrahs/ anytheory, he writes, is regulated by the theorist's 4divinity belie%4" umanswill believe in one divinity or another" nd theories never arise without areliance uon, or aeal to, 4divinity belie%s4" 4ivinity4 is what is believedto be non&deendently real, that uon which everything, including thatwhich is theorised about, ultimately deends" #o, he argues, all theoriesare controlled by some such belie%, and this understanding o% howreligious belie%s relate to theories alies to all theorists, the Christianand the indu as much as the materialist and the agnostic who might

maintain that their theories are religiously neutral" 0he religious neutralityo% theories is a myth, says Clouser" 0he attemt to $ee science andreligion searate is itsel% deendent uon an alternative religiousosition, one that aims to cloa$ its non&deendency belie%, and hide the%act that it is an integral %acet o% the theorist's li%e and e.erience" 0hetheoretical act o% abstraction to %orm concets does not haen withoutthe theorist's 4divinity belie%s4 controlling the theory&ma$ing"

In that sense Christian belie% relates to theories in the same way thatany other religious belie% relates to theories" Christian belie% is theisticand holds that all o% creation deends uon the Creator who has beenrevealed to us in !esus Christ" 7ut Christian belie% does not have some

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$ind o% e.clusive corner on religious belie%" 0hose who have otherreligious belie%s cannot avoid ascribing 4divinity4 to something, or somerincile & and i% such ascrition is not to the Creator then it will be tosomething o% the creation" nd so, a Christian will also recognise thereligious ossibility o% idolatrous belie%" 0hat ossibility is not just about

what the 4other guys4 believe8 it is a religious tendency that the Christianis called by the scritures to resist in the theorising tas$ itsel%" 0heChristian belie% leads us to a view o% theorising that a theory will imlyeither belie% in the true od who has been revealed to us in !esus Christ,or it will ma$e its 4ultimate4 aeal to an idol" 0he Christian's 4ultimate4 or4absolute4 oint o% re%erence is given in the :ord made %lesh, odincarnate, the #on o% od" nd the $nowledge o% od the #on, scritureteaches, imacts all $nowledge (1 Cor 1/5, 1)/+, ;h 5/9-" nd so, the$nowledge theories rovide are deendent uon what is ultimate and

must involve the theorist in a 4divinity belie%4, a belie% about what is4ultimate4 or 4absolute4 in our reality" 0o reeat/ to engage in theory&ma$ing, a theorist will necessarily aeal to a 4divinity belie%4, to thatwhich is simly believed to be 4the way things are4, 4that uon whicheverything else deends4" nd that, in very brie% comass, summarisesClouser's answer to the ersistent 3uestion that concerned him longbe%ore he became an academic"

I have given this essay the title/ Philosophy as Dependable Analysis"


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College o% ew !ersey & %ormerly 0renton #tate College" 0his teachingosition has been his oortunity to give sustained attention to suchbasic 3uestions" :ith an attentive and critical eye %or the ways in whichhis students (and readers- interret his hilosohical arguments, Clouserhas methodically develoed a ste&by&ste account o% why this 3uestion

should be given high riority in our science and scholarshi" e hase.lained its imlications, addressed various misunderstandings ande.anded uon its alication to the secial sciences"

"utline of Discussion

#ome readers may have begun reading this essay hoing to get a brie%statement o% the basic idea o% Clouser's Christian hilosohy be%oretac$ling his writings" :ell, I hoe they have %ound that in what I have just%ormulated" I% they wish, and without %urther ado, they may now turn to

the annotated bibliograhy to read his wor$ directly" 0his essay is notwritten seci%ically %or them" 0hose who already $now Clouser's wor$, orwho have some $nowledge o% current hilosohical trends, might have towait until @art II" 0his essay in its entirety, and esecially this @art I, iswritten to assist Christian students who, li$e Clouser in his earliest studyo% hilosohy, have become aware o% unresolved hilosohical issuesand want to deal with them %rom a Christian standoint" 0hey may be justabout to enter university a%ter %inishing high&school, or they may beconsidering %urther ost&graduate studies a%ter comleting their %irst

degree" 0his does not mean that what %ollows is easy" =n the contrary itmay rove to be rather di%%icult, but I would encourage those whocontinue to read to try to %ollow the line o% discussion to see where itgoes" I hoe it can stimulate your thin$ing about develoing hilosohy%rom a Christian standoint"

:e will %irst e.amine some o% the roblems we have to %ace when wecon%ront hilosohy in the conte.t o% higher education" Clouser has beenemloyed as a @ro%essor o% @hilosohy and Religion, and so, %or thisdiscussion, I have deemed it use%ul to discuss the $ind o% 4wor$4 he has

done in this academic osition"


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negotiate the ambiguities they con%ront in their lives as students as wellas the content o% their courses"

0he aim here is to try to s$etch some $ey asects o% the educationalconte.t in which Clouser has also had to do his wor$" is style is that o%the university teacher o% logic who ta$es the student ste by ste througha articular argument" s I stated at the outset, Clouser's academiccareer began in 1965 as an instructor in logic" oes this hel usunderstand his style o% resentationA I thin$ it does"

@art II considers the imact o% the hilosohy o% erman ooyeweerd(1+9&19BB- uon Clouser's wor$" 0wo sections are related to Clouser'swor$ with ooyeweerd's hilosohy" e has e.ounded this hilosohy'scontent, showing its relevance %or the secial sciences" Dooyeweerd'sContribution to Clouser's Philosophical Studies e.lains the imacto% ooyeweerd's hilosohy uon Clouser's re%lections" Clouser'sPro#otion of the Study of Dooyeweerd's Philosophyloo$s at howClouser has tried to commend ooyeweerd's hilosohy in the orthmerican and ;nglish&sea$ing conte.t" #ince he is convinced that thishilosohy should be received by scholars as a genuine hilosohicalcontribution, this has been a major art o% his wor$"

0he %inal sections cover other ublished material" e has consideredthe arguments o% other schools o% Christian hilosohy and ut hisscholarly talents to wor$ in the discussion o% olitical and social issues" Iconclude with a brie% summary o% Clouser's e.lanation o% hilosohy'srovision o% a deendable account o% how theoretical analysis canrovide us with reliable concetual $nowledge o% the roerties and lawswe uncover in creation"

$hat Do Philosophers Do

2et us now consider the term 4hilosohy4" =ne common way o%sea$ing about intellectual ursuits is to say that scholarshi is what ascholar does, that science is what a scientist does1" #o, i% we are to saythat hilosohy is what hilosohers do, what is it that a hilosoher

doesA #urely we should be able to see the imact o% hilosohy be%oreimmersing ourselves in it I% we say that what a 4hilosoher4 does is4thin$ing4, then that doesn't clari%y the role because, 3uite aart %rom the%act that it is art o% normal human %unctioning, 4thin$ing4 is also whatscholars and scientists do" #o is it a matter o% seeing a hilosoher 4atwor$4A I% so, where would that beA I% a scholar is tyically at wor$ in alibrary, and a scientist can be sotted e.erimenting in her laboratory,

1 Consider @ercy : 7ridgman's 199 statement/ 4o one standing on the outside can redict what theindividual scientist will do or what method he will %ollow" In short, science is what scientists do, and

there are as many scienti%ic methods as there are individual scientists4" I simly let this stand here asan e.amle o% a widely held view, and note, without attemting to o%%er any e.tended e.amination o%7ridgman's (oerationalist- hilosohy, that he is assuming that whatever hilosohy is it is thee.ression o% human autonomy" In this de%inition, there%ore, we con%ront 7ridgman's 4divinity belie%4"


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where do we see the 4hilosoher4 at wor$A Is it signi%icant that in ournormal everyday language that the concet o% 4hilosoher4, unli$e thato% 4scientist4 and 4scholar4, does not connote any seci%ic locationA

:e may say that a erson 4doing hilosohy4 is a 4hilosoher4 but thatdoesn't tell us very much about what it is that this erson is doing" nd aswe thin$ about this, we recall that the erson we are calling a4hilosoher4 does more than merely thin$ and write and lecture in a4hilosohical4 way" 4@hilosohy4, we observe, is only one o% theactivities the erson, who we dub 4hilosoher4, does" 0his erson willsho, drive a car, raise a %amily, ay the mortgage, vote at election timeand lay scrabble, among many, many other things" nd so, as we beginto distinguish 4hilosohy4, as one $ind o% human activity, %rom all theother human activities that such a erson might do, we realise it this hunt%or the 4hilosoher4 is not as simle as we may have %irst thought" It is

true that not everyone 4does4 hilosohy, nor is everyone who isengaged in hilosohy necessarily a hilosoher" Dany eole see$ ageneral education and 4read hilosohy4 and may do so intensively" 7uta erson does not have to be a hilosoher to engage in intensivehilosohical research" lready, we detect a great deal o% relativity withthe way the terms 4hilosohy4 and 4hilosoher4 are ut to use in ourlanguage" :hen we try to gain insight into what a hilosoher does bytreating hilosohy as an activity, we seem to have identi%ied whathilosohy is not rather than what it is"

:hile we have been thin$ing about hilosohy as an activity, we haveyet to seci%y the actual activity we are re%erring to" 0he attemt todistinguish 4hilosohy4 %rom other $inds o% activities any erson may do,does not yet tell us what is distinctive about this eculiar activity" 0o add4doing hilosohy4 to the list (sho, drive, ay bills, vote, lay, dohilosohy- tells us little more than that 4doing hilosohy4 ta$es u aortion o% a erson's wa$ing li%e" 4oing hilosohy4 may simly be code%or the academic job that a erson has, whereas another academic willlist 4doing statistics4 or 4doing art history4" =n the list o% activities we

might comile %or a ro%essional erson, it might be 4doing business4 or4nursing4" In that sense it may be the erson's 4occuation4, the meanso% drawing an income"

7ut there are also many occuations in which re%lective thin$ing is amajor characteristic" nd those engaged in these occuations are notnecessarily hilosohers" 0hese occuations are indeed concerned withdeveloing deendable insight, just as hilosohy is" :e might call themintellectual ursuits, and a well&rounded areciation o% hilosohy as aarticular intellectual ursuit will also show its areciation %or all the

others" :e have re%erred to hilosohy as an activity and have therebytried to distinguish it %rom the other activities a erson does" 7ut in

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harvested, react 3uic$ly to avert danger on the highway and come tounderstand why the sermon delivered last #unday at church mis&reresented the assage %rom the osels" ll o% these other activities,re%lections and judgments, cannot be unin%luenced by the 4hilosoher's4secial wor$ but they should not be con%used with them"

:ell, as we have discussed this we have 4distinguished4 some things%rom other things & the 4hilosoher4 is also a church member, a grand&arent and a driver o% a H:" 7ut this distinction does not mean asearation & it is a%ter all the same erson" 0hat we can 4distinguish4 onerole %rom the many others a erson lays should not lead us to assumethat this role is a searate reality" It is a distinct reality allowing it to bedistinguished, but distinction is only searation in an abstract logicalsense" :e can distinguish one thing %rom other things or one $ind o% law%rom all the other $inds o% laws, but these distinctions do not mean

absolute searation, in the sense that by slicing an ale into searateieces we can give one iece to that child and another to this child" 0heoccuational 4distinctions4 we have made are not about searate sliceso% reality, searate arts o% a whole, but about di%%erent activities whichthe erson we designate 4hilosoher4 is involved with and cannot avoid"

:ell what are these other 4things4 that a erson, in this case RoyClouser, could be involved withA =ur revious discussion has revealedenough to suggest that there are many things that could be listed here(sectator o% baseball, visitor o% ubs, choir member, grandarent- but %or

the urose o% this discussion I am suggesting that we restrict ourdiscussion to three imortant 4activities4 that hel us clari%y what wewould re%er to as Clouser's hilosohical 4activity4 as an academic" Eeein mind that the aim here is to assist those wanting to e.amine Clouser'swritings which are listed in this bibliograhy" 0he three 4things4 we %ocusuon here are/

teaching hilosohy & academic wor$

studying hilosohy & student wor$

%ormulating hilosohical arguments %or wider distribution viaarticles, boo$s and invited lectures & hilosohical re%lection

s we have said, these three activities, though distinct, are related toeach other" ;ach is slightly di%%erent %rom the others and yet they haveresuosed each other to some e.tent during Clouser's academiccareer" nd together, the three o% them are scarcely conceivable withoutat least some basic level o% hilosohical re%lection"

ow do these distinct activities, or tas$s, relate to our evaluation o%Clouser's writingsA :ell, as we have noted, to consider these three4things4 is also to investigate Clouser's academic career" s well asbeing recognised as a 4hilosoher4 (by those who read his writings-,

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Clouser was emloyed %or over * years as a teacher o% hilosohy andreligion" In 196&5 he was emloyed as a 4secial ed4 teacher inCamden, !, but since then his teaching wor$ has not been in 4highereducation4 and not at the secondary school level" In time he became a@ro%essor, and is now @ro%essor ;meritus, %rom 0he College o% ew

!ersey"

Clouser's initial teaching aointments were as Instructor in #ymbolic2ogic at Rutgers University (1965&1966- and as Instructor in @hilosohyat 2a #alle University (1966&196+-" #o we can surmise %rom these earlydeveloments in his wor$&li%e that to become a teacher o% hilosohy andreligion, he %irst had to have been a student o% hilosohy and religion" 0ota$e u this $ind o% teaching wor$, and remain in it, meant that he had tobe a 4summa cum laude4 student with the necessary degrees in thesesubject areas" %ter having begun studies in music at yac$ College, he

comleted his 7 in hilosohy (1961- at ordon College, :enham,Dassachusetts, and then a 7 in theology (196)- %rom Re%ormed;iscoal #eminary, @ennsylvania" e also too$ some graduate coursesin the istory and @hilosohy o% Religion at arvard University (1961&196)-" In 1965 he was awarded an D in hilosohy %rom the Universityo% @ennsylvania (4ristotle's 0heory o% Doral Incontinence4-" In 196+ heobtained an aointment to teach hilosohy and religion as an ssistant@ro%essor at 0renton #tate College, when it was e.anding its oerationsand becoming a &year liberal arts institution" nd so, at that time,

enrolled as a @h student at the University o% @ennsylvania, he washoing %or an academic career at the university level" 0he e.ectationwas that with a university aointment he would be able to teach, whilecontinuing with his research and ublishing articles and boo$s" 0his wasthe assumed ath %or anyone see$ing to actively %ormulate hilosohicalargument %or wider distribution" Clouser's osition as ssistant @ro%essorat 0#C allowed him to rovide %or his %amily while gaining a doctorate" In19B) he was awarded the doctorate in hilosohy %rom the University o%@ennsylvania %or a thesis titled 40ranscendetal Criti3ue, =ntological

Reduction, and Religious 7elie% in the @hilosohy o% ermanooyeweerd4" In 19B> he was romoted to ssociate @ro%essor o%@hilosohy and Religion and 1+ years later (1991- he was made %ull@ro%essor until his retirement as @ro%essor ;meritus in )**)"

0his is by no means a %ull account o% Clouser's academic career, andwe are able to rovide a detailed investigation o% his edagogy" 7ut %romall accounts, and %rom what we can in%er %rom his ublished writings,Clouser the teacher areciates his students' intellectual or theoreticaldi%%iculties, and is a sensitive teacher who has not %orgotten his own

comle. athway in 4higher ed4" I suose that means he would adathis lecture content to ac$nowledge the %ads and %oibles that come ontocamus with each new year's %resh wave o% students" oe%ully these

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students come willing to learn, and are not just e.ecting their ro%essorsto allow them to go through the motions" 7ut hilosohy, the academicdisciline, also has its %ads and %oibles o% its own, and its curriculum isnot immune %rom the dominant cultural %orces shaing education andscienti%ic research"

Acade#ic %wor(%:

2et us then brie%ly e.lore the academic 4wor$4 o% Clouser the teacher"t a College's enrolment, @ro%essors will be on duty will be available toassist rosective students by answering their 3uestions/

%But what do philosophers do%

@hilosohy %aculty, well&trained in answering 3uestions, will be used toanswering this one" 7ut, as a 3uestion as$ed at enrolment, consideredsolely in terms o% the words used, it is somewhat ambiguous" It might be

a simle re3uest %or in%ormation %or which the answer is/%Here is a syllabus That's what we do Read it and if you are

interested co#e bac( and put your na#e on the class list%

7ut, as we have ointed out, the 3uestion can easily mean variousothers things and hilosohy %aculty are trained to sot ambiguities" 0heresulting discussion might even get comle., and the %aculty member'sattemt to clari%y the meaning o% the initial 3uestion might even becon%using %or the student" ddressing ambiguity is what ma$eshilosohy into a %rustrating, and also stimulating, endeavour"

#o, i% the 3uestion meant/

Professor Clouser& what do you& as a #e#ber of the philosophydepart#ent& do

then the answer will be/

I teach philosophy courses and en)a)e in philosophic researchand the writin) of articles * here's a copy of one& +aith Tectonics* ifyou want to discuss it& #a(e an appoint#ent to see #e and I'll be)lad to hear what you ha!e to say about it

#uch articles and boo$s may re%lect the @ro%essor's basic commitmentand e.lain what he has been trying to teach over the years in hisclasses"

Gou can get a sense o% what Roy Clouser's hilosohical colleaguesnow doby loo$ing at this site %rom the eartment o% @hilosohy andReligion at 0he College o% ew !ersey"

#ince the 19B*s 0renton #tate College, as it was then $nown, had beenadministered as a teaching institution, see$ing to maintain higheststandards" In recent decades, as the College o% ew !ersey, it has builtand maintained a consistently high reutation so that it is now a muchsought a%ter under&graduate institution within the state" !udged by #0

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scores, it is regularly given high ran$ing, second only to @rincetonUniversity" Its student oulation has been $et low (5,6** students-"

0he transition %rom 0#C to 0C! %ollows a attern o% institutional4ugrade4 which, understandably, may not be an easy toic %or theacademics involved to tal$ about" Eee in mind the intense cometitiveenvironment in which U# higher education %unctions" ny institution willbe continually comaring itsel% with others and a College's administrationwill be charged to $ee a $een eye on where the College now sits in theregularly ublished 4league tables4" #o when a College ugrades weshould not avoid the contribution o% the %aculty & a%ter all it is the %acultyand the students who together constitute the 4core business4 o% theCollege" nd when we re%lect uon this well&$nown henomenon o%4institutional ugrade4 it is li$ely that it has come about o%% the bac$s o%overwor$ed %aculty who have been retained at lower levels with higher

teaching loads" It wor$s li$e this/the highly 3uali%ied and low aid members o% sta%% increase the school's reutationwith the students, and more students are thereby attracted to the deartment'smajor and the other courses it is involved in" 0he College's reutation is enhanced"nd then the College administration begins to aly standards aroriate %or morerestigious institutions & where romotion and tenure are based on research andublication record" 7ut at those laces, oortunities are also given %or research bygiving sta%% lighter teaching loads and the rovision o% study leave" 7ut, because the4ugrading4 College had adoted such an intensive teaching rogramme, addingnight&time courses and courses over the summer, it cannot a%%ord to romote itssta%% or to rovide research assistance" #o, i% an academic doesn't ublish then analication %or romotion is turned down" I% the academic suggests a teaching

rogramme that would %acilitate research and writing, the resonse would be thatthe College was rimarily concerned with teaching" 0his is a situation in whichvulnerable and good value academics are seriously e.loited"

In %act that describes retty well the $ind o% institutional dilemmaClouser %aced in his 4hilosohical wor$lace4 over many years" 0he3uestion was/ how did he develo a well&rounded hilosohicalcontribution under those conditionsA

%ter reading through the items listed in his bibliograhy, we cansuggest that an answer to this 3uestion should include the words4ersistent4 and 4determined4" Under such conditions o% 4institutionalugrade4 it could not haen 3uic$ly"

Eee in mind the three 4things4 we have identi%ied as imortant %acets o%any hilosohy 4career4 which need to be care%ully distinguished %rom theart or s$ill o% hilosohical re%lection itsel%"

teaching hilosohy

studying hilosohy

%ormulating hilosohical argument %or wider distribution via

articles, boo$s and invited lecturesIt does not ta$e much re%lection to recognise that a College that is

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%ollowing such an 4institutional ugrade4 ath by giving rimary emhasisto (in this case- the teaching o% hilosohy, will ma$e it di%%icult %or itshilosohy %aculty to ade3uately attend to those activities that aree.ected o% ro%essional hilosohers at institutions where thero%ession's standards are set"

ccording to Clouser's own account, the hilosohy rogramme at 0#Calso resisted some %ashionable academic trends which meant thatcourses in logic %or the hilosohy major did not become otional" 0heeartment o% @hilosohy and Religion at 0#C also maitained higheststandards o% its students in an era when many came to college e.ectingto be coddled" 0his initially meant that its %aculty had to wear theconse3uences o% lower student enrolments in their deartment's courses,in a situation that still le%t little or no time %or sustained research orwriting"


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analysis needs to be learned within the %abric o% comle. and diversedemands that are uon all o% us" :e all wear many (normative- 4hats48we all have diverse resonsibilities and are accountable in a variety o%ways" nd the 4hat4 o% the hilosohy student and the 4hat4 o% thehilosohy ro%essor are similar" In certain resects the hilosohy

ro%essor is merely a more e.erienced student, who is aid to introducethe disciline and guide the student's learning o% its many %acets" 0hestudy o% hilosohy is not only good %or an 4intellectual occuation4, norare its bene%its con%ined to what we have called 4academic ursuits4"

0o %ul%il its vocation, hilosohical re%lection should ta$e its lace withinscience and scholarshi and encourage deendable analysis androblem&solving" eendable analysis is necessary %or resonsibleliving/ in our living together in households, as %amilies, as marriageartners, as those who need to learn how to converse with clarity about

matters trivial and comle., as citiFens who see$ justice, as loyalmembers o% associations, as members o% wor$laces, and as discerningstewards in the mar$et lace"

0o learn and develo deendable analysis ta$es time" 0he mere act o%distinguishing one thing %rom another is not magic and is a s$ill thatneeds to be learned" It all ta$es time"

Philosophical Reflection:

7ut then, the 3uestion %But what do philosophers do%could also be

a student's theoretical robe in the sense o%/ %$hat a# I doin) when Ithin( in a philosophical way%#ome $een students will 4cut to thechase4 as soon as they hit camus and, as Clouser says, there were3uestions li$e this one that he was wanting to clari%y some years be%orehe embar$ed uon the academic study o% hilosohy" In this case, the3uestion turns out to be one that leads on to %urther 3uestions thatdistinguish the hilosohical way o% thin$ing %rom other ways o% thin$ing/%rom 4everyday4 re%lection, %rom ractical roblem solving, and also %romthose seci%ic ersectives that are uncovered by the secial sciences"0his variation o% the 3uestion turns out to be unavoidable %or thoseengaged in theoretical studies and it leads to 3uestions about our ownta$en&%or&granted belie%s and how those belie%s give shae to ourconcets and our theories" :e have covered this issue above"

s we wor$ our way through this annotated bibliograhy, we will seethat it is this third way o% as$ing this 3uestion which Clouser hasgenerally tried to answer in his writings" =% course, it is not the only3uestion he has addressed, but it is the 3uestion that hels us to get asense o% what he has been trying to do over the years when, as anacademic, he has been able to %ind the time %or writing his articles andublishing his boo$s" #till, it would distort our understanding o% his wor$ i%we ignore the %act that the %irst two ways o% as$ing, and answering, the

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initial 3uestion can redominate and crowd out any consideration o% thiscrucial third way o% as$ing the 3uestion" nd although Clouser's writingsonly occasionally address his academic conte.t, they can all be read asevidence o% the way he has taught, and studied and argued" 0hey may%ocus very much uon how a hilosoher might thin$ but by reading

these wor$s we will also gain a sense o% how Roy Clouser, the teacher o%hilosohy, has contributed and continues to contribute, to the lives o% hisstudents and his colleagues, as they, li$e him, live out their lives"

0he critical 3uestions about the way our thin$ing is structured and ta$esart in our li%e, also raises other imortant 3uestions about the tas$ o%academic institutions and the way we aroach our wor$, our career, thero%essions we belong to, as well as our civic and oliticalresonsibilities" 0he three di%%erent ways in which we can as$ the3uestion 47ut what do hilosohers doA4 are each relevant to our

e.amination o% Clouser's hilosohical contribution, and to what I amdescribing as his ongoing ro%essional attemt to e.lain thecharacteristics o% deendable theoretical analysis"

@hilosohy ta$es time and the comosing o% comle. hilosohicalargument is usually not ossible i% one does not have the leisure to3uietly and ainsta$ingly develo deendable analysis" , )**5- and Enowing with the eart (o" )6 1999 o" >+)**B- testi%y to his ersistence over decades" :ith his ublished articles,available at thell o% 2i%e Redeemed site, these boo$s constitute acomact and consistent body o% wor$" 0o read them chronologically is tocon%ront the author's consistent attemt to ma$e his own hilosohicalcontribution" Dany o% the later articles are revised versions o% argumentsand observations made earlier" Comle. hilosohical discussion is

unravelled in ste&by&ste discussion and illustrated with e.amles thatcan be readily understood" In the various discussions, the oints he uts

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%orward aim to stimulate %urther re%lection and research" Clouser hasbeen busy laying a non&reductionist hilosohical %oundation %ordeendable analysis" e see$s to %ormulate hilosohical argumentsthat will assist scienti%ic understanding o% the roerties and lawsgoverning all that od has made"

Philosophy's A#bi)uous Place in the +aculty

2et us aroach the e.amination o% Clouser's writings %rom anotherangle" :hat can we say in general terms about the cultural andintellectual trends that have dominated over the hal% century sinceClouser began his 7 studies in hilosohy (ie since about 195+-"Instead o% summarising 5 decades in two aragrahs let me suggest a4thought e.eriment4" ;.amine the 1965 standard te.t, ; ! 2emmonBe)innin) ,o)ic" Re%lect uon the di%%iculties to be %aced by a coule o%

re%orming academics, whatever the country, who roose to teach acourse based on that boo$, ma$ing it a comulsory %irst&year subjectacross the entire rts degree" :hy engage in such a 4thoughte.eriment4A :ell, it might hel us sharen our understanding o% theroblematic lace that 4hilosohy4 has in the contemorary universityand college curriculum" =ver this eriod, another 4hilosohy4 has beendeely embedding itsel% in the administration o% university rts degreesaround the world and it re3uires that the 4hilosohy deartment4 besegmented along with all o% the other 4deartments4 in the rts %aculty"

Conventional subjects in the hilosohy curriculum may still bemaintained as 4core4 %or hilosohy majors" 0here may be the occasionalco&re3uisites %or entrance into higher level units o%%ered by non&hilosohy deartments" nd there may be e%%orts at initiating 4corecurriculum4 rojects or even 4inter&discilinary studies4 or 4history andhilosohy o% science4 comonents o% other secialised courses" 7utdesite all those attemts at amelioration, hilosohy as an academicsubject now inherits its own 4historic4 niche & it's institutionally segmented4slice o% the ale4 & by teaching subjects which %ormerly were basic tothe entire curriculum rovided by the academy" =ne conse3uence o% thisis that @hilosohy eartments will o%ten be viewed as o%%ering outdatedintellectual relics %rom re&ost&modern times"

It is o%ten suggested that the aradigm shi%t to a ost&modern academybegan sometime in the 196*s" ;ven i% the ost&modern tide in highereducation is now in an ebbing hase, who will deny that since the 19+*sthis tide has signi%icantly altered the landscae o% university teaching inall discilines, including hilosohy" @olicies see$ing to e.ose highereducation to 4mar$et demands4, ta$e %or granted the deartmentalsegmentation o% university education & as with the searate ieces o% theale ale mentioned earlier" University mar$etting deartments seethis as merely art o% the internal di%%erentiation o% (educational- 4roduct4

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which %acilitates student 4choice4" 0he rise o% ost&modern ersectivesacross all %aculties has closely a%%i.ed itsel% to such a mar$et&drivenersective in higher education" ny suggestion that mar$ets need to beeducated by science and scholarshi sounds %ar&%etched, i% notbombastic, since the ears o% students, let alone o% academics, have been

tuned to hear and e.ect variations o% 4born to sho4 commercials, ineducation and wherever else we live out our lives"

nd the demanding tas$ o% gaining coherent theoretical insight is notmade any easier by the dominance o% a hilosohical ragmatism thatcon%idently avoids the structural ambiguity o% hilosohy in the universitycurriculum because it is more concerned to esouse the view that all weever e.erience and $now is determined by language and that languageis our own creation" nd so, hilosohy's ambiguity is viewed as our owncreation and there%ore we should ma$e the most o% it" ny resolution will

simly create new ambiguities" 0his view is treacherous" It leavesstudents in a no&where land so that when they graduate they have theaarently %ailsa%e logical conclusion that all we can ever e.erience and$now is simly a result o% our own devising" In that sense, ost&modernhilosohy simly trains eole to be trained by the world that isdominated by the language o% advertising and the most ower%ulroagandists (see o" )-"

Clouser's Style

It should be clear by now why I have made so much o% the %act that,over the years, Clouser has mainly taught at an undergraduate level" iswritings ta$e seriously the serious 3uestions that he anticiates will arise%rom ercetive students (and readers-" is writing is characterised by alevel o% argumentation that resects a student's need to be ta$en ste&by&ste through comle. and %rustrating argument"

0his is not to suggest that his writings could be characterised asvariations on an 4Idiot's uide4 theme" or am I suggesting thatacademics who regularly teach at more advanced levels don't argue

clearly8 the observation is made here in order to identi%y a rominentcharacteristic o% Clouser's habitual way o% %orming hilosohicalargument in his writings" 0here is a sense that what is being argued iselementary, and the underlying insight is that the laws o% logical in%erencehold just as much %or an introductory course in logic as they do %or moreadvanced courses" 0he laws that guide logical argument don't changejust because our insight deeens and we are able to construct comle.hyotheses and argue %or them with greater %inesse"

Consider, %or e.amle, Clouser's 4caseboo$4 chaters in Dyth" is aim

is to rovide e.amles o% how divinity belie%s are evident in thearguments o% various leading theorists even when a mythic commitment

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to religious neutrality demands that they be cloa$ed" #uch an analysisrovides an indisensable %irst ste to the criticial investigation o%rominent theories in maths, hysics and sychology" 0hese criticalstudies are %ramed in order to stimulate the study o% these discilines aswell as assisting in the critical investigation o% the contributions made by

these leading thin$ers" 0here%ore it would be a serious mista$e to viewthe caseboo$ studies as ut %orward as a (rovisional- end o% the matter"Rather, they are set %orth as a starting oint, the %ormulation o% anhyothesis that has to be %urther tested and re%ined by %urther research"0hey are critical building bloc$s needed by students who go on to %urthersecialised theoretical study"

2ots more needs to be done, and Dyth ma$es a salient beginning interms o% a constructive roject e.amining rominent theories in di%%erentdiscilines to identi%y their divinity belie%s" 0hat roject has the otential

to become art o% a signi%icant international research effortamongscholars who, with Clouser, see$ to 4bring every thought cative to theobedience o% Christ4 () Corinthians 1*/5-"

Indeed, Clouser's wor$ has also gained the attention o% scholars outsidehis own orth merican academic conte.t" Dythnet, an internet list, wasset u to discuss his 1991 boo$ 0he Dyth o% Religious eutrality" 0hename o% the list was subse3uently changed to 0hin$net" 0here areoccasional ostings to that list %rom one o% Clouser's %ormer students &@ro%essor Darty Riceo% the University o% @ittsburgh, !ohnstown & but a

large ercentage o% the discussion o% his wor$ has come %rom the UE,ustralia, ew Jealand as well as Canada, the etherlands and #outh%rica" In recent times, his wor$ has catured the attention o% scholars%rom Indonesia, the @hiliines, De.ico and 7raFil" s well, a ermantranslation o% Dyth is underway"

In Dyth (1991 )**5- and Enowing with the eart (1999 )**B-,Clouser's argument relies to some e.tent uon the reader's generalunderstanding o% the rules o% logical in%erence and a level o% general$nowledge we can e.ect %rom an under&graduate education" #till, many

younger students may %eel that his style, let alone the content, is out&o%&sync with what they have been taught e.ect" 0he world&wide imact o%neo&liberal ideology, bolstered since 19+9 by the end o% the cold war,should not be under&estimated" It has embedded itsel% within nationaleducational systems and is art and arcel o% the rationale %or ublice.aminations in all areas o% the school curriculum" t all levels o%education, children are reeatedly taught in a %ramewor$ in whichersonal survival and advancement, are given riority" It is li$ely that astudent who is deely immersed in this ideology will %ind Clouser's

arguments counter&intuitive" #till, Clouser's ongoing e%%ort to %ormhilosohical analysis aims to rovide a deendable argument that,

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among other things, e.lains why ost&modern hilosohy is untenableand comletely unreliable" It simly cannot be deended uon"

0his is the sub&te.t o% his second boo$ -nowin) with the Heart:Reli)ious ./perience and Belief in 0od (o" )6 1999 o" >+ )**B-"Clouser's 4dialogues4 in this boo$, anticiate and answer his student's3uestions" 0o read this boo$ is to imagine the hilosohy ro%essor as awhite&water canoeist with a young comanion who has learned to de%tlynegotiate the raids o% schooling and higher education by maintainingthe belie% that there can never be any de%initive end to this haFardousjourney & the oint seems to be that one's ersonal resonsibility is%ul%illed by holding on and e.eriencing the ris$s and the thrills & in thisli%e that is all there is, and getting the most out o% it is 4the way to go4"

Readers who want to e.lore one o% Clouser's seci%ic analyses o% the4$ing tides4 that have washed over academic hilosohy, might turn tohis critical e.os? o% ragmatism and Richard Rorty's attemt toaccommodate historical relativism in Criti3ue o% istoricism(o" )199B-" 0his article can be read alongside the 4caseboo$4 chaters inDyth, because it e.lores a rominent, i% not dominant, theoretical%ramewor$ that has revailed in the social and historical sciences inrecent decades"

Although the #egelian and $ar%ist forms of historicism are now out of fashion,scholars in a variety of fields are presently endorsing new forms of that theory. Infact, the influence of historicism has spread with such ama&ing rapidity that itsconcomitant relativism has become the #I' infection of the contemporary scene.

7ut let me add a caveat" 0hose interested may have to study thisargument very care%ully, even reading it through > or times, be%ore the4enny dros4" 0he critical oint can be identi%ied and this is not tosuggest that the article is not well&written" Rather, it is to suggest that thecriti3ue develoed by this article is ro%ound not just because itchallenges the content o% a contemorary hilosohical argument, normerely because it e%%ectively e.lains the %ailed logic o% (Rorty's-historicism" It is rather the e.os? o% the underlying 4religious groundmotive4 or, in Clouser's terms, the ta$en %or granted 4divinity belie%4, thatregulates theorising in the 4human sciences4 by assuming

... that all theories, traditions, interpretations, and most if not all concepts, arenothing more than cultural artifacts of a particular time and place (p. )*+.

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Part II

Dooyeweerd's Contribution to Clouser's Philosophical Studies

0hose who wor$ their way through Clouser's ublished oeuvrewillnotice a remar$able consistency" 0his consistency has everything to dowith Clouser's discovery o% erman ooyeweerd's (1+9&19BB-remar$able hilosohical writings" In ooyeweerd, Clouser %ound areliable Christian guide to the hilosoher's tas$" ooyeweerd'shilosohy comrehensively e.lained the normative demands to whichtheoretical thought in all its dimensions is subject" 0here may beroblems with ooyeweerd's hilosohy, some o% which Clouser hasidenti%ied, but it is the utchman's clari%ication o% the hilosohical tas$which rovided Clouser with a ma by which he could chart his ownodyssey on the turbulent seas o% hilosohy" It is also this in%luence that

hels us understand why Clouser has returned again and again to thesame, or similar, theoretical issues over these decades" #o what is thatviewA :hat is that clari%icationA :hat do Clouser's writings tells us aboutthe hilosoher's tas$A ow can the hilosoher's tas$ remain consistentwhen the academic conte.t %or ro%essor and student is aarently in astate o% constant %lu.A

Clouser gained %rom ooyeweerd a credible Christian account o% howand why it is ossible %or the hilosoher to rovide deendabletheoretical analysis"

-or ooyeweerd/ ... belief in 0od (or any other divinity belief+ can impact everykind of truth, including theories. 1oughly, his account goes like this. A theory offersa hypothesis to e%plain something: we call the hypothesis an 2e%plainer2. 3hateveris e%plained is presented as importantly dependent on the e%plainer postulated bythat hypothesis. 4o be precise, a theory needs to specify whether the e%plaineritself is dependent on yet other e%plainers or not. If it is dependent, we at leastknow the kind of thing(s+ it depends on. 5ut either an e%plainer depends onsomething else, or it does not. If it does not, then it is by our definition divine. If itdoes, then whatever it ultimately depends on is divine. 4herefore, any theory thattakes some part, aspect, principle, etc., drawn from creation as the ultimatee%plainer has given it divine status. And whatever is given that status guidestheorymaking in such a way that subsequent theories differ from what they wouldbe were something different given that status (" 5 Is 4here a Christian view of6verything from Soup to 7uts!o" >) )**>-"

0his also means that the hilosoher cannot avoid giving a decisiveaccount, i% not e.licitly then imlicitly, o% how abstraction is ossible, andhow the %ormulation o% theoretical concets %or the testing o% hyothesescomes about when we are occuied with theory&ma$ing" @hilosohyinevitably de%ers to an imlicit account o% how theory&ma$ing is ossible" hilosohical account o% theory&ma$ing will e.lain why it is imortantthat we critically e.amine our theories & %or consistency, logicalcoherence, and whether the aeal to evidence is warranted" It should

also bring to light our re&scienti%ic belie%s about the way the cosmos isgoverned" =ur theorising is subject to this and necessarily re%ers to it"

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0hese statements summarise, in a nutshell, the major stand&out thesis o%all the ) items o% his oeuvrewhich are listed here.It is the viewointderived %rom the hilosohy o% erman ooyeweerd" Clouser's 19B)@h dissertation %rom the University o% @ennsylvania was titled40ranscendental Criti3ue, =ntological Reduction and Religious 7elie% in

the @hilosohy o% erman ooyeweerd4" nd this wor$ then is the 4it4%rom which the materials %or Dyth were mined"

Clouser's 19+* article %or 8hilosophia 1eformata Criti3ue o%escartes and eisenberg(o" B- e.lores ooyeweerd's hilosohyand ma$es ublic his initial critical review o% the 4transcendental criti3ue4"0hat was not the %inal version o% Clouser's criti3ue o% ooyeweerd'scriti3ue, and in his most recent article, 4ranscendental Critique 1evisitedand 1evised, Clouser's criticisms are re%ocused by identi%ying andcorrecting the criti3ue's internal roblems, seci%ically in relation to its

ooyeweerd's 4)nd 3uestion4"

0he issue concerns the lace o% abstraction in theory&ma$ing, and whatClouser claims are ooyeweerd's %aulty assertions about non&Christiantheorising" ooyeweerd's arguments may be alicable to ristotle andescartes, but theoretical arguments in the late )*th century havegenerally sought to establish their basis by strategies that were di%%erent%rom those ooyeweerd assumed, %or instance by claims to e.lanatorysueriority" 0he more serious art o% Clouser's criti3ue e.loresooyeweerd's assumtions about the abstraction o% a articular law or

roerty and he %inds these to be 4dead wrong4"

In the 19+* ublication, Clouser's discussion tended to %ocus uon itsterminology and ooyeweerd's unavoidable immersion in the ost&Euyerian utch scholarly resonse to neo&Eantian andhenomenological hilosohy in the early decades o% the )*th century"Recognising the evident roblems with the interretation o% this4rolegomenal4 dimension o% ooyeweerd's hilosohy, Clouser then setabout o%%ering a care%ul 4re&translation4 that would more readily comortwith nglo&merican hilosohical terminology"

0he roblems with ooyeweerd's %ormulation o% the 4transcendentalcriti3ue4 have been well recognised by other re%ormational scholars(including en$ eertsema, ic$ #ta%leu and anie #trauss-, and ane%%ective resolution has not yet been %ound" =ver the years, Clouser has%ound this to be a signi%icant intellectual challenge"

@roblems with the 4transcendental criti3ue4 aside, Clouser has %ound inooyeweerd's hilosohy a dependable account o% the hilosohicaltas$ as it theoretically con%ronts the many&sided reality o% creation" It hasbeen an indisensable stimulus to Clouser's e.lanation o% theory&ma$ing" 0his is most evident in his attemt to e.lain the roject tostimulate the root and branch renovation o% scienti%ic investigation by a

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radically non&reductionist scienti%ic agenda (o" )>19968 o" >9)**B-"

@hilosohy must abide by the norms that govern concetual thin$ing"@art o% Clouser's contribution has also been to address the way concetsthat do not resuose abstraction ma$e their own contribution withinthe hilosohical horiFon" 7ut also, by clari%ying the lace o% norms intheory&ma$ing or, to ut it another way, by demonstrating howconcetualisation is governed by its own distinctive norms, Clouser hasadded signi%icantly to an insight %rom 0 @ van der Eooy, emhasiFed by7ob oudFwaard, concerning the 4simultaneous realiFation o% norms4(Caitalism and @rogress 19B9 " 65-" 0he norms that govern logicalthin$ing are integral to the hilosohical tas$ and we might even want tosay that the distinctive individuality o% the hilosohical tas$ is 3uali%iedby logical norms" 7ut this does not mean that hilosohical re%lection isever searated o%% %rom other normative considerations o% a non&logical

nature" or can the non&logical normative dimensions be concetualisedwithout adherence to the norms that govern logical thin$ing"

2et me simly give a e.amle o% how a ublished article, say one o%Clouser's o&ed ieces %or 8ublic 9ustice 1eport, %unctions in a variety o%ways related to Clouser's own ra%t o% resonsibilities, ublic and rivate"2et us say that the article is on 4truancy4 which has become a currentolitical issue" s a hilosoher writing on this current toic, he will wantto resent a cogent and logically coherent iece that in its own waycommends his major ro%essional occuation to the reader" 0he article

can illustrate the %act that College @ro%essors in @hilosohy can ma$ewise and ertinent contributions, as readers o% the magaFine thin$ aboutways to solve the roblem" 0he @resident o% his College may comeacross the magaFine and read the iece and may decide that this articledeserves secial mention because it re%lects ositively on the College asa lace that encourages cogent and logical argument in civic a%%airs" 7utthe ublished article is not simly the 4outlet4 o% a 4hilosohical4 (oracademic- resonsibility, it is also an e.ression o% the writer's owncontribution as a citiFen" 0he 4ublic intellectual4 %unction o% College

academics is given e.ression in this case" Daybe the writer is amember in the association that ublishes the magaFine" Its aearanceis evidence that he is not just a sleeing member o% the association,allowing the ;.ecutive ;ditor to do all the olicy wor$, but is also ma$inghis contribution and doing his bit to encourage olitical debate among themembershi" ow as a %ather the writer has to be care%ul" %ter all he$nows that his own son has been on reort at school %or truancy" Inwriting the article he might be indirectly 4sending a message4 to theschool's rincial, but he has to be care%ul that the article, as written,

does not e.ose his son to un%air embarrassment or comromise his sonin some way $nown only to them both" e cannot not be the child's %atheras he writes the o&ed iece but must %orm the article accordingly" e

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might as$ his son to read the article and tell him what he thin$s, be%oresubmitting it %or ublication" 0his is simly an e.amle o% how onecultural arti%act & an article in a magaFine & %unctions variously in relationto the many&sided resonsibilities o% the writer o% the article" It isevidence o% a simultaneous realiFation o% various normative demands at

wor$ in the same event" 0he logical coherence o% the article, coincideswith his %iduciary resonsibility as a ublic intellectual, his romotion o%ublic justice as a citiFen, his loyalty as an association member and hisaternal care as a %ather"

long with all other theoretical re%lection, hilosohy must abide by thenorms that govern the %ormation o% concets" 0he %ul%illment o% suchnorms in hilosohical argument has everything to do with what ahilosoher believes theoretical argument ultimately dependsuon" 7utit is imortant to emhasiFe that this is notintended as a reductionist

aroach, i"e" the endorsement o% a scienti%ic strategy which wouldreduce concets, hyotheses and theory&ma$ing to the belie%s whichregulate them" Reductionism is, and has been, a ersistent %eature o%hilosohy and theory&ma$ing since the ncient ree$s" hilosohythat is non&reductionist at its roots will also need to give a credible(deendable- account o% the various reductionist strategies that havebeen emloyed in hilosohy over the centuries, as well as identi%yingthe (limited- validity o% concetual reduction as a means o% shareningtheoretical insight (re% here hlogiston theory and also theories about the

%abric o% the heavens-" In this regard, Clouser's contribution is care%ullyargued with subtle distinctions as art o% his e%%ort to clari%y imortant%acets o% the theory&ma$ing tas$"

0he centre&iece o% Clouser's hilosohy is indeed Dyth" ooyeweerdviewed his major contribution in terms o% a 4transcendental criti3ue4which made 4the dogma o% the autonomy o% theoretical thought4 into acritical roblem" 7y way o% contrast, Clouser has sought to e.ose 4themyth o% religious neutrality4 by an essay e.laining 4the hidden role o%religious belie% in theories"4 7y care%ully considering the wording o% this

sub&title %rom his major wor$, we discern Clouser's agenda %or hisongoing hilosohical roject which his ublications have signi%icantlyencouraged" 0he tas$ is not achieved simly by the announcement that%rom hence%orth one's own religious belie%s will have a decisive imactuon one's theories" or is it to merely hoe that one's theories %rom nowon will bring to e.ression the true belie%s uon which one has beenbasing one's theorising" 0he critical hilosohical wor$ involves e.loringtheories and discovering how arguments seem to be so success%ul inhiding the role o% religious belie%s, o% identi%ying how any articular theory

has turned %rom the sel%&critical ath to the con%ident dogmatism thatrelies on the abstracted reality brought to light by reason and science"

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ow when Clouser's thesis & 47elie% in od (or any other divinity belie%-can imact every $ind o% truth, including theories4 & is read in relation tothe ost :ord :ar II orth merican 4re%ormational movement4, it wouldseem at %irst glance to simly be his own eculiar %ormulation o% thehrase 4all o% li%e is religion4 made %amous by Calvin College ro%essor

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importance relative to the rest. In theism there is dependency without reduction.4he program that ooyeweerd has developed for theories isn;t an easy one (" 9&1* Is 4here a Christian view of 6verything from Soup to 7uts!o" >) )**>-"

It isn't an easy tas$ when one is develoing a hilosohy's scienti%icrationale8 but then it is also not easy when it comes to con%ronting other

theories, with other divinity belie%s as well"-or if any belief in something as utterly nondependent is a religious belief nomatter how the divine is conceived,then it will follow that many beliefs which arenot ordinarily thought of as religious, and which have no worship attached to them,are in fact religious beliefs all the same (" B+c -aith 4ectonicso" 1+ 199)-"

It also becomes obvious that Clouser, @ro%essor o% @hilosohy andReligion, has made his own comarative study o% religions an imortantart o% his hilosohical re%lection" is study o% religions and religiousbelie% has heled him clari%y the way religious belie%s imact every $indo% $nowledge and in articular o% the $nowledge we develo with our

theories" 0his, in turn, has brought recision into his account o%hilosohy and, in articular, hilosohy that has been imacted byChristian theistic belie%s"

@hilosohy is a %orm o% theoretical argument and cannot avoid de%erringto some e.lanation o% how such abstract concetual argument isossible, an e.lanation that gives its arguments anchorage as well asmotivating such argument to see$ its true destination" 7ecausetheoretical argument imlies abstraction, hilosohical analysis can notavoid giving some account o% how abstraction is ossible, how

abstraction contributes to the %ormation o% the theoretical concets thatare an intrinsic art o% scienti%ic investigation, how these concets arerelated to other concets and how concetsper se are necessarilyrelated to the law&order o% created reality" @hilosohical re%lection has anunavoidable role in the ongoing %orming and re&%orming o% theoretical,scienti%ic and metahysical concets which are art o% our e%%orts toe.lain the laws and roerties that govern human e.erience in itstotality" :e theorise in terms o% our belie%s about the way any one thingwithin created reality relate to every other thing, and how they all hangtogether (Colossians 1/1B-" 0he theories we %orm in scienti%ic researchare art o% our human e%%ort to understand how everything in createdreality deends uon the laws by which the Creator subjects all things toimsel%" Ultimately, the theories %ormed in scienti%ic research aredecisively suorted and imacted by ultimate 4divinity belie%s4, belie%sabout that on which everything in this world deends"

=% course, when we discuss concet&ma$ing and abstraction in terms o%what a thin$er believes, we realise that hilosohy cannot avoid itsintrinsically ersonal and inter&ersonal character" nd so, hilosohycannot be merely a matter o% the assive absortion o% course&wor$material a%ter enrolling in a course called 4hilosohy4 & as Clouserintimates/ his involvement in hilosohical 3uestioning indeed has its

)
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roots in his own 3uestions as a young Christian about the way he wasthin$ing about reality and, having given much thought to these 3uestions,he then too$ u %urther study o% hilosohy" 7ut since he was consciouslyaroaching this study as a Christian, other 3uestions arose" :asn't theChristian way o% aroaching to these matters already maed out %or

him by theologyA :asn't theology the way to relate belie% in od to allthe di%%erent theories that have arisen in all the di%%erent sciencesA s ayoung Christian see$ing answers to such 3uestions, he came in time toidenti%y two revailing views, both o% which le%t him ro%oundlydissatis%ied/

4he first position is to say that any theory that doesn&1955- and so he saw his way

clear to ta$e u the study o% hilosohy" 0hat was the beginning" 7utcomle. issues arose" ow should this Christian hilosohy e.lain itsel%as a bona fide hilosohyA :hat is the content o% this hilosohyA

0he short answer to both o% these 3uestions is straight&%orward/ i% astudent wants to e.lain why ooyeweerd's hilosohy should beconsidered as a bona fide contribution, the %irst and obvious thing to do isto write a @h which demonstrates the %act" In all the world, there havenot been many @hs written that e.ound ooyeweerd's hilosohy"Clouser and !im #$illen are the two most rominent orth merican

scholars who have done this as art o% their ongoing e%%orts to commendthis hilosohy"


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7y viewing Clouser's writings as his answers to these two 3uestions, wemay deeen our understanding o% the scholarly di%%iculties %aced whenwe see$ to introduce a hilosohical argument that claims to e.ose themyth o% 4religious neutrality4"

De#onstratin) bona fides

#o, any attemt to address the %irst 3uestion about the hilosohy'sbona fides, has to %ace the %act that ooyeweerd's hilosohy is virtuallyun$nown, i% standard hilosohical te.t boo$s and encycloedias are anyguide" 0he %act that two merican @hs e.ist %rom the 19B*s does notconstitute grounds %or including a aragrah on ooyeweerd in ahilosohical encycloedia" KConsider, as an e.amle, Robert udi (ed-The Ca#brid)e Dictionary of Philosophy (Cambridge University @ress)nd edn 1999"L %ter more than %i%ty years o% A 1ew Criti2ue in ;nglish,and $nown to a substantial number o% 3uali%ied scholars around theworld, this hilosohy is only very occasionally discussed on the %ringeswhere hilosohical discussion ta$es lace i"e at con%erences, injournals, in ublications and in lecture theatres" s a result, adherentsstill %ind it necessary to care%ully e.lain this hilosohy's basic rationaleand it is not an easy tas$ to e.lain why it deserves attention" In thiswriter's view, that is not always a disadvantage, articularly in anacademic conte.t awash in ost&modern rejudices which seem to belittle more than the intellectual e3uivalent o% consumerist values" 7ut,nevertheless, it is a ta.ing and demanding e.ercise to introduce

ooyeweerd's hilosohy" 0he scholar introducing the hilosohy alsoneeds insight into why, %or all intents and uroses, ooyeweerd'scontribution continues to be ignored"

It needs ointing out that when any student claims to have discoveredmuch needed clari%ication about theory&ma$ing %rom ooyeweerd'shilosohy, then a delicate situation arises since it may well be that thestudent has come into the 4%ront&line4 in terms o% e.ounding thehilosohy's value" 0o suggest that the 3uestion o% hilosohy'srelationshi to religious belie% deserves consideration, is to articiate in

hilosohical argument as ooyeweerd resented it" 7ut to then drawattention to the underlying 4religious ground motive4 (or divinity belie%- o%a articular theoretical argument, which has ut itsel% %orward in terms o%its own religious neutrality, is nothing other than a challenge to thetheory's logic and its concets" =ne is drawing attention to a thin$er'sre&scienti%ic standoint which regulates the subse3uent theorising" 0obegin to do this, even i% it is as a student see$ing clari%ication in atentative way, is to challenge more than the theory under consideration &in certain resects it is to unmas$ the various religious viewoints that

have dominated the hilosohical tradition in the name o% 4neutrality4" Itmay result in serious class&room con%rontation or something even more

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serious"

I am suggesting that it is imortant %or those reading Clouser'shilosohy to understand the ossibilities %or serious and intense siritualdislocation in the midst o% academic and hilosohical argument"ooyeweerd himsel% recognised this/

I am fully conscious that any method of criticism which tries to penetrate to thereligious motives of a thinker is in danger of causing an emotional reaction andgiving offense. In tracking down a philosophical train of thought to its deepestreligious foundations I am in no way attacking my adversaries personally, nor am Ie%alting myself in e% cathedra style. Such misunderstanding of my intention is verydistressing to me. An act of passing "udgment on the personal religious condition ofan adversary would be a kind of human pride which supposes it can e%alt itself to0od;s "udgment seat. I have continually laid emphasis on the fact that thephilosophy which I have developed, even in the sharp penetrating criticism which ite%ercises against nonChristian immanence philosophy, constantly remains withinthe domain ofprinciples. I wish to repudiate any selfsatisfied scientific attitude inconfronting immancephilosophy. 4he detailed criticism of the #umanistic

immanencephilosophy ... must be understood as selfcriticism, as a case whichthe Christian thinker pleads with himself.=nless this fact is understood, theintention of this philosophy has not been comprehended (#. ooyeweerd2-oreword2A New Critique of Theoretical Thought 'ol I p. 'III+..

nd so, it will also re3uire much wor$ on many di%%erent %ronts even too%%er marginal assistance to the students who %ind value in Clouser'swor$" #uch an ongoing e%%ort should include an e.tensive araisal o%how this wide&ranging hilosohy views itsel% in relation to thehilosohical tradition" nd so, in the %ormulation o% the 0he


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0he %our&%old tyology is as %ollows/ 1" rationalism, )" irrationalism, >"%ideism and " scholasticism & ooyeweerd's hilosohy is assigned itslace under the third otion, with the claim that he has made a signi%icantcontribution alongside o% ugustine (who 2flirted with this view withoutever wholly accepting it2-, 2uther, Calvin and @ascal" 0he overall

3uestion concerns the way in which hilosohy aroaches (the studyo%- religion" K=n this scheme there may also be a 4religious irrationalism4otion within the %ourth scholastic aroach"L

0his aroach is similar in some resects to the contribution Clouserhas made to the debate about 4religion and science4" is articles develoa critical ersective on the overall trends and e.ounds another view,the view that critically e.amines the assumtions o% the debate %rom astandoint he has %ormulated with hel %rom ooyeweerd's hilosohy>"

:e have already mentioned Clouser's attemt to rede%ineooyeweerd's 4transcendental criti3ue4 in Criti3ue o% escartes andeisenberg(o" B 19+*-" In that article he identi%ied the 4abstractioncriterion4 as an unavoidable dimension o% the hilosoher's criticalre%lections about the theory&ma$ing rocess" 0his also oens u a wayby which care%ul logical analysis o% theoretical argument can inoint thereligious %aith controlling the mathematical theories o% escartes andeisenberg" It is not just that these theorists consider mathematicalconcets to be more clear, distinct and reliable than any other $ind, butthat they are viewed in this way because a divine status has been

ascribed to them within the theory&ma$ing rocess itsel%"

In the 41Is 0heism Comatible with ;volutionA, o" >) Is 0here aChristian Hiew o% ;verything %rom #ou to utsA,o" >5 @rosects %or 0heistic #cience, o" >6enesis Regained/ Creation not Creationism,o" ) Is 7elie% in od made =bselete by #cienceA

)+
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this hilosohy emhasiFes" It is an attemt to e.lain and elaborate anon&reductionist theory o% reality in a deendable way"

./poundin) the Philosophy's Content:

0he second issue, concerned with the e.osition o% the content o% this

hilosohy, is also comle." It is related to the develoment o% a seci%ic%ield o% 4ooyeweerd studies4, that merges necessarily with attemts byscholars to give creative interretations o% how the hilosohy alies tothe emergent theoretical con%iguration o% the various secial sciences"ooyeweerd's hilosohy came into the orth merican academicconte.t by way o% translation %rom the utch, with its own hilosohicalvocabularly" nd so, when it is initially alied in its new conte.t, theargument needs deendable reresentation that can be readilyunderstood by other scholars" It also re3uires clear and %orthrighte.amles o% how the hilosohy contributes to the resolution o% manyother long&term intellectual roblems and uFFles" I% those e.oundingthis hilosohy are to rovides such clari%ications then they also need tobe able to araise the theoretical roblems %rom within the scienti%ic%rames o% re%erence in which they have come to light" It can not just be amatter o% announcement, nor o% bringing in a hilosohical view %romelsewhere, but rather o% ma$ing the case, ste by ste, %or a new criticalarticulation o% how the scienti%ic concets are %ormed (and re&%ormed-within a hilosohical %ramewor$" 0hat is the much needed clari%icationand stimulus %or ongoing scienti%ic research that ooyeweerd envisaged

%or his hilosohy"I am strongly convinced that for the fruitful working out of this philosophy, in agenuinely scientific manner, there is needed a staff of fellowlabourers who wouldbe in a position to independently to think through its basic ideas in the specialscientific fields. It is a matter of life and death for this young philosophy thatChristian scholars in all fields of science seek to put it to work in their own specialty(# ooyeweerd 2-oreword2A New Critique of Theoretical Thought 193 "HII+.

as Clouser simly re&stated the basic insights o% ooyeweerd'shilosohy %or a orth merican hilosohic conte.tA o" Eee in mindthat, as a @ro%essor in a eartment o% @hilosohy and Religion, Clouser

has, as we have outlined above, also ut this hilosohy to wor$ in thescienti%ic study o% religion" 0he deendable analysis which is called %or%rom hilosohical re%lection has a urose that reaches beyond debatecon%ined strictly to the hilosohical disciline itsel%" eendable analysisis not simly a matter con%ined to language and logic8 it is develoed inorder to suort and assist all dimensions o% scienti%ic investigation, and,as has already been noted, beyond science in the %ul%illment o%4everyday4 resonsibilities" 0he $ind o% wor$ is there%ore e.tremely

o" + Religious 2anguage/ ew 2oo$ at an =ld @roblem, o" 11 ivine ccommodation/ n

lternative 0heory o% Religious 2anguage, o" 1 Review o% !ohn Cooer 5ody, Soul, and ife6verlasting: 5iblical Anthropology and the $onismualism ebate , o" )B Is od ;ternalA,o" >*0hree :atersheds o% 7iblical Interretation, o" >> Reason and 7elie% in od, o" >6enesisRegained/ Creation not Creationism"

)9
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ainsta$ing and has to be able to deal with creational comle.ities"0hese writings rovide the results o% Clouser's care%ul study o% religiousbelie% which has served to sharen insight into ooyeweerd's account o%how 4religious ground motives4 are always at wor$ in hilosohy andscience"

merican hilosohy is o%ten viewed in terms o% successive waves o%recent ;uroean thought reaching the shores o% the orth mericanacademy" Clouser writes as one aware o% the tendency among his %ellownglo&merican hilosohers to imort the latest so&called 4continental4ersective to bring hilosohical argument 4u to date4" nd, o% course,he is also aware that by bringing a utch Christian hilosoher intohilosohical discussion may be interreted as an attemt to add are%ormational 4continental4 icing to a ragmatist orth mericanhilosohical ca$e"50hat, o% course, was certainly not Clouser's intention

but it has been seriously suggested that ooyeweerd's hilosohyshould be read as 4roto&ost&modern4"6

Clouser's wor$ also rovides a hilosohical justi%ication %or treatingooyeweerd's hilosohy as a genuine hilosohical viewoint" e doesthis with a ersistent emhasis uon the need to adhere to the laws o%logical in%erence so that logical clarity is achieved about the distincti!ephilosophical contributionsthat are derived %rom ooyeweerd'shilosohical reasoning" It should be said that this emhatic logicalaroach contrasts, to a signi%icant e.tent, with other orth merican

attemts to draw attention to ooyeweerd's hilosohy over these 5*&lus years" #ome have commended ooyeweerd's hilosohy bystressing its otential as a bastion %rom which to de%end a Christianworld&view"


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theories o% escartes and eisenberg (o" B19+*-" lready in thatearlier article, Clouser had observed that the ;nglish&sea$ing and orthmerican recetion o% ooyeweerd's wor$ reeatedly misinterreted theintention o% this hilosohy"

I;ve found that once I use that term transcendental/, my partner in discussion

presumes that ooyeweerd is some sort of sub"ective idealist, that he is committedto some version of a doctrine of fi%ed ;categories; of thought, and no doubtmaintains a highly problematic cleavage between sensation and conceptuali&ation("15B-"

Clouser observed that in his time (i"e 19>*s in the etherlands-ooyeweerd had ta$en the word 4transcendental4 and given it a newmeaning (ie universal and necessary conditions-, using it to re%er to thatwhich is distinct %rom hilosohyMscience but uon whichhilosohyMscience deends" 7ut a hilosohical areciation o%ooyeweerd's achievement via this argument oens the way %or an

aroach that may %ollow 4in his line4 but is not recious about theterminology in which it was initially %ormulated, nor even about its reutedtheoretical achievements"

" 0he

ublication o% Dyth in 1991 coincided with his romotion to %ull @ro%essor"

>1
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ahead unhindered but rather to show how all the things,actions, structures and events o% creaturely li%e can indeed besubject to a genuine non&reductionistic scienti%ic investigation"

#$etch o% ooyeweerd's @hilosohy o% #cience(o )>

1996- outlines major %acets o% ooyeweerd's general theoryo% modal asects, with secial attention to how one thing canbe scienti%ically distinguished %rom other things, how the ideao% individuality is to be emloyed, how the analogical orderingo% concets oens the way to recognising how concetsre%lect all modal asects, how 4en$asis4 is a valid alternativeto wholeMart metahysical construal o% diversely structuredentities, how the role o% religious ground motives is to beunderstood and also how theoretical con%licts should berocesses as art o% the tas$ o% uncovering antinomies inscienti%ic research"

7luerint %or a on&Reductionist 0heory o% Reality(o" >9

)**B- e.lains the view that there can be no justi%ication %orthe belie% that any articular $ind o% entity can be indeendento% all other $inds" Clouser reiterates his categorisation o% theobjectionable uses o% reductionism in theory&ma$ing whilstalso summarsing the basic tenets o% a non&reductionist theoryo% reality (ontology- that is derived %rom ooyeweerd"

Clouser's Contributions to "ther Christian Philosophiesdmittedly, by the 196*s, ooyeweerd's hilosohy had gained somerominence in some re%ormed and evangelical colleges and theirresective denominations" 0hese are also the academic, theological andecclesiastical circles in which the movement $nown as 4re%ormedeistemology4 gained adherents and has attained, relatively sea$ing,widesread recognition, in subse3uent decades" Clouser's criticalassessments o% the hilosohical arguments o% lvin @lantinga (see os+19+> ))1996- and his criti3ue o% icholas :olterstor%% (o" )B1999-

are imortant contributions to the 4re%ormed eistemology4 movement" Itwill be just as imortant to read the rejoinders to these criticisms bythese two re%ormed hilosohers when they aear"

Clouser's Reason and 7elie% in od(o" >> )**>-, is an e.change with;duardo ;cheverria about the way in which ooyeweerd's hilosohyhad been comared and contrasted with !ohn @aul II's -ides et 1atio" Itis worth mentioning in this conte.t because Clouser's criti3ue o%;cheverria shows his understanding o% how the hilosoher with theisticbelie%s is called uon to contribute to hilosohical re%lection based in a

(non&re%ormed and Roman Catholic- 4scholastic4 otion"+

+ see o" 519B9

>)
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7ut it should be $et in mind that the story o% Clouser's hilosohicalcontribution is also art o% the story by which ooyeweerd's hilosohycame to be rogressively ignored in the re%ormed and evangelicalconte.t a%ter it had gained its initial hearing & ooyeweerd lectured in theU# and Canada in 196* and 1965" :e might surmise that Clouser who,

over the years has been a sometime astor and member o% Dethodist,2utheran and ;iscoalian congregations, did not easily 3uali%y %or ahearing among those who wanted to re%er to ooyeweerd's hilosohy tojusti%y their e%%orts to bring change to their own re%ormed denomination'seducational institutions"

Clouser's "ther Contributions to Christian Scholarship

7ut nevertheless, there is a ressing 4class&room issue4 here that needsto be e.lained & i% this is a valid hilosohical aroach, why is it so

glaringly absent %rom the literatureA :hat accounts %or its continuedabsenceA 0his 3uestion needs to be addressed/ :hy has there beensuch a sustained long&term absence over the long&term o% this ChristianhilosohyA 0his absence has to be accounted %or in a meaning%ul wayso that students can readily understand what is going on here" 0hee.lanation can not simly contrast one cultural conte.t & the utch&;uroean conte.t in which ooyeweerd %ormulated his hilosohy & withthe local merican academic culture that had not heard o% thishilosohy" 0hat would simly turn it into a late )*th century orth

tlantic migration roblem"Clouser chose to elaborate the details o% ooyeweerd's hilosohy as a

Christian account o% theory&ma$ing, hand&in&hand with an e.lanation o%the historical develoment o% Christian thin$ing in the western world" ndso, he closely %ollowed ooyeweerd's merican lectures, 4studies in theretended autonomy o% theoretical thought4 that were %irst ublished in196* as In the Twili)ht of $estern Thou)ht"

In the 19B*s, Clouser also bene%ited %rom discussions with !im #$illen,Robert Enudsen and others who were also occuied with the 3uestion o%

how to translate this account o% theory&ma$ing, and the history o% theory&ma$ing, %or their own academic secialities" 0hey were see$ing toe.lain the ossibilities o% hilosohy, and this hilosohy in articular, interms o% the creational law&order" 7ut an account o% theory&ma$ing thate.lains its creational ossibility in terms o% the biblical 4ground motive4seems to regularly get derailed" :hyA :e have already noted theintense siritual con%rontation that is an unavoidable art o% the religiousbac$ground to this Christian hilosohy" nd we also note that Clouser,@ro%essor o% @hilosohy and Religion, has given considerable attention

to the comarative study o% religions" 0o re%lect uon the historicaldeveloment o% Christian thin$ing is also to con%ront 3uestions about thecomarative imact o% 4religious ground motives4 uon hilosohical

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re%lection and cultural %ormation" 0here are not only the di%%erencesbetween the 4religions o% the boo$4 & !udaism, Christianity, Islam & whichtogether claim brahamic inheritance, but there is also the ongoing andervasive in%luence o% ree$ hilosohy %rom re&Christian time as wellas, since the 15th and 16th centuries, 4the rise o% modern aganism4

(see here the study by @eter ay 0he ;nlightenment/ an Interretation &the Rise o% Dodern @aganism 1966-" 0hen there are also the easternreligions (induism and the varieties o% 7uddhism- and many animistsreligions %ound these days in remote regions o% the world while in the4civiliFed4 countries there is a resurgence o% ancient aganism"

:e have already drawn attention to the develoment o% Clouser'sthin$ing about the hilosohy o% religion and metahysics" is 19B9discussion in o" 5 0he
http://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/ClouserAnakainosis.htmhttp://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/Facets%20of%20Faith%20and%20Science%20ch203.pdfhttp://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/Facets%20of%20Faith%20and%20Science%20ch203.pdfhttp://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/Aristolte's%20theory%20of%20incontinence.PDFhttp://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/ClouserAnakainosis.htmhttp://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/Facets%20of%20Faith%20and%20Science%20ch203.pdfhttp://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/Facets%20of%20Faith%20and%20Science%20ch203.pdfhttp://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/Aristolte's%20theory%20of%20incontinence.PDF


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toics" @uritanism on uthority(o" 5, 19B9- and the )**B Euyer2ecture 0hird Hiew o% Rights and 2aw(o" * )**B- are notewowthycontributions %or understanding the logical inconsistencies andunderlying tensions in the @uritan and merican aroaches to olitics"

e has had editorial ieces ublished in @ublic !ustice Reort on the%ollowing toics/ merican national character (o" 1)-, mericanmilitarism (o" 1B-, the dominance o% unelected interest grous incongress (o" 19-, just war rinciles (o" )5-, the role o% the R andgun control (o" )+-, the death enalty (o" )9-, and nuclear arms andnational restige (o" >B-" 0hese are all tightly argued viewoints on arange o% olitical issues" ;ach could be ta$en as an e.amle o% care%ullogical discussion o% contemory ublic issues" 0hey would be goode.amles to show our eager %reshman who was intent on as$ing/ 47utwhat do hilosohers doA4

0here are reviews o% boo$s & one on Christian anthroological dualisms(o" 9- and another on Christian resonses to Dar.ism and neo&Dar.ism(o" 1-" 0here is a contribution to a symosium considering lenn0inder's discussion o% love and justice (o" 1>- as well as a notablecon%erence aer which considers how religious belie% relates to socialnorms (o" )*-" In these writings Clouser has shown an intuitiveunderstanding %or the way hilosohical thin$ing in%orms olitical theory,ethics and sociology"

Philosophy as Dependable Analysisnd so, we can say that %rom this ersective, the develoment o% ahilosohy has everything to do with whatever it is that the hilosoher,and not just the hilosoher's abstracted argument, dependsuon" 7ydescribing Clouser's contribution in these terms, we can say that hishilosohy has been constructed in the belie% that the Creator&Redeemerwho has made imsel% $nown to us in !esus Christ is the =ne on whomeveryone and everything deends" 0he term 4everything4 also includesall the di%%erent $inds o% argument, the rules o% logical in%erence, concets

and hilosohical analysis itsel%" ;verything here means everything, ormore e.actly, everything creaturely, everything that is art o% creationincluding/

... the host of abstract animals in the great corral of 8lato;s ?ther 3orld ...(1eligious anguage: A 7ew ook at an ?ld 8roblemo" + 19+> " >+6-.

Creation deends on th

roy clouser philosophy as dependable analysis

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