Good section, really packed, so I’ll have to severely condense but hope to keep the presentation flowing.
2. Subjective and Objective reasoning.
Repeat: ontological (subjective) reason is “a STRUCTURE of the mind which enables it to grasp and shape reality.” LOGOS
objective " is the rational structure of reality. Has a logos structure.
But the relationship between them must be defined. From Phil 101:
-Realism: it is actually reality that shapes the mind; reality has the power to do that.
-Idealism: Objective reason is created by subjective reason as the latter actualizes itself on unstructured matter.
Like this: Any of various systems of thought in which the objects of knowledge are held to be in some way dependent on the activity of
mind. Or more radically:
(philosophy) the philosophical theory that ideas are the only reality.
(Lots of history of philosophy could be mentioned here)
-Dualism: web def: A theory or system of thought that regards a domain of reality in terms of two independent principles, esp. mind and matter.
-Monism: web def: the doctrine that reality consists of a single basic substance or element
Why all the fuss? T wants to draw from all the above, and come up with a general definition that he will be using; keep us all on the same page. But he adds a ‘twist’ that we will get to in a minute.
The mind receives AND reacts - subjective and objective ‘reason’. In receiving, it ‘grasps’ the world; in reacting it ‘shapes’ its world.
Grasping: seeing into the essence of a thing or event, understanding it
Shaping: transforming the material that is grasped into a Gestalt, a structure “that has the power of being” (that’s a tough nut to crack)
The twist: “In both types of rational acts,the grasping and the shaping,…an emotional element is present.”
Key passage: “…THE FACT THAT IN SOME (RATIONAL ACTS) OF THEM THE EMOTIONAL ELEMENT IS MORE DECISIVE THAN IN OTHERS DOES NOT MAKE THEM LESS RATIONAL. MUSIC IS NO LESS RATIONAL THAN MATHEMATICS. THE EMOTIONAL ELEMENT IN MUSIC OPENS A DIMENSION OF REALITY WHICH IS CLOSED TO MATHEMATICS.”
Math and music each have a rational structure. "This is the meaning of PASCAL’S sentence about THE REASONS OF THE HEART WHICH REASON CANNOT COMPREHEND.
Why - because ‘reason’ is used in the double sense we’ve talked about. The ‘reasons of the heart’ are aesthetic and communal - beauty and love; the ‘reason’ that cannot understand them is the ‘technical’ reason mentioned much earlier.
That’s the first of two posts on this section.