The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Reason is Supernatural; a proposal I am working out

[size=150]Reason is Supernatural[/size]

The basic premise is that Reason is Supernatural; and therefore The Supernatural (that which is above nature) exists.

A possible definition of Reason; that metaphysical noun by which all things function consistently, logically, and coherently towards pattern-able and knowable properties of being, and of doing. The precedent or intrinsic source upon which natural law and natural processes; and thus the being of natural things depends for existence, or at least coherent existence.

I

Everything in nature is subject to Reason; Reason is above nature,because nature is its subject, and thus Reason is supernatural by definition.

Reason is an immaterial agency (preceding material, physical interactions and substances) which interpenetrates and extends beyond nature. Because nature; physics, physicality, and all the functions of nature - function by reason of Reason.

[size=85][If nature does not function by reason of Reason, or relevant to it, then science must abandon itself as helplessly inadequate to study nature.][/size]

Reason is the governess of natural law as cause is the governess of effect. Reason is the governess of logic; and the source of both.

Reason itself is supernatural; for all of nature is subject to its scrutiny, and to its mastery, yet nature is not its master; for nature functions by it and apart from it disintegrates in mass atrophy toward nothingness and chaotic incompetence in function.

[size=85][Wherein 1 and 1 do not mean 2, and gravity ceases to attract anything; all of which function by means of Reason, and the reason that they do function by that reason of function, which is by reason of Reason and by reason of Being.][/size]

Nature has no tyranny over Reason, though interpretations of Reason by men may be subject to change - Reason itself is constant, being the thing by which natural laws and natural processes may be known, yet in being known by Reason they are seen to function as by Reason.

Apart from Reason, basic laws such as “every action has an equal and opposite reaction” could not be known, and in fact apart from Reason could not be actualities in and of themselves, every action in fact would not have an equal or opposite reaction simply for the fact that there is no Reason behind which it does so. If Reason were not the power by which nature does reasonable things, and is able to be reasoned or rationally known, then there would either be no such thing as nature or else nature would be contemptible to all science and unknowable. If Reason is the empowering cause by which natural laws function, and inter-function with one another to ultimately bear the effect of matter - and thereby cause matter to inter-function to produce bear nature; then Reason must precede nature as Cause precedes Effect. If the laws of nature are Reasonless, and not foundational upon Reason - and ultimately then nature - then nature is fundamentally unreasonable.

I propose that Reason is precedent to Natural Law, and therefore precedent to Nature which is governed, formed, and sustained by it. In being precedent to nature; and above it thus, it is supernatural by definition.

II

Being precedes Doing, as Reality precedes Perception; existence precedes perception or acknowledgement of said existence.

Existence, or an existent thing, does not depend upon an observer to exist. Perceiving is an act or doing, where as Perception is a property of Being, or “a thing being” if it can so has the faculties to perceive - but a rock exists even if it does not perceive that it is a rock, and a rock exists even if there is no perceptible being to perceive it does; or else if perception is required for an object to exist then there must be fundamentally a self-evident, self-existent, self-aware, self-perceiving self to have eternally existed in order for anything else to exist.

Yet, Being precedes Doing, and so it precedes the act or doing of perceiving; an observer must exist before he can observe; the act of observing as an observer never precedes the observer’s actual being, a being may become an observer by the immediate act of observing once existent but the act of observing cannot precede the actual acting of the being, just as an Effect cannot precede the Cause which brought forth the Effect. Reason therefore cannot come forth from the act of reasoning, but must precede the act of reasoning by the reasoner. Likewise Reason must precede the functions of the laws of nature which depend on Reason to function, either intrinsically or by precedence. For Reason to not precede the functions of things that depend upon it, is for Effect to precede Cause, or for Doing to precede Being; which are all impossible proposals.

For Doing to precede Being is impossible, as being must be intrinsic to or precedent to action, as Cause must be precedent to and/or intrinsic to Effect. Perception, an act or doing, cannot precede the being or existence of any existent thing capable of perceiving; which necessitates that Reason cannot be first perceived (or “Acted into Being” by neurological processes of the brain) - it must first exist prior to activity regarding it in order for activity regarding it to even be possible.

Nature, and the laws of nature, depend upon Reason for them to function and be known.

Nature (which depends upon the laws of nature intrinsically to be or to function as Nature, for what is physics without the laws of physics?) and these laws of nature therefore depend upon Reason; Reason which must be above nature, being above its laws being the source and intrinsic empowering force behind and within them. If Reason did not come forth from Nature, as it cannot, then it must be intrinsic to nature or else precede it. And hence; Reason is supernatural, or else non-existent.

C.S.Lewis (of course) does a fine job ( though the studious Anglo-academic writing style requires a few readings to yield to the modern ear) laying out the barest statement of this in the Problem of Pain, and the Abolition of Man.

I would have said rather Miracles: A Preliminary Study (2nd edition).

I’ve written a lot of analysis on this in Section Two of Sword to the Heart, too, Lef. (Which serves as a more detailed expansion of Lewis’ argument from MaPS, and which is available for free right here on the forum. :slight_smile: )

See signature below for the link.

Fascinating, and excellent! I’ll take a look myself. I hope perhaps some of my own findings will confirm your own. :smiley: Or vice versa. :wink: