Publication
Building dioramas with common sense calvinist tools
| Summary: | The aim of this thesis is to present a complete philosophical system (a broad theoretical framework) in general terms. The motivations for satisfying this objective were the need to have a system of this nature, which could be cited or referred to in works about specific topics; and the fact that there is no such system already made that includes all my foundational philosophical positions. Some call these systems worldviews, but not agreeing with this conception, I proposed the perspective of building dioramas. Any successful construction requires method and materials; both are drawn from the two great theoretical systems mentioned in the title: Commonsensism and Calvinism. The basic character of these two systems and the diorama perspective are presented at the beginning. Henceforth it follows the combined system of Common Sense Calvinism. The mode of presentation is Cartesian. The materials are advanced according to a criterion of epistemic proximity, i.e. from those things that are intuitively known to those that require experience, conceptual cataloging, and several inferential steps. As such, one begins with Commonsensism and then moves on (in a theoretically linked way) to Calvinism. The transition starts with Native Theism (the faculty of perceiving transcendent realities), then Generic Theism (a theory about how divine entities relate to the world), Christian Theism (the specification that transcendental realities are correctly described by Christianity) and finally Calvinism (the theological system that best systematizes the truths of the Christian religion). The section devoted to Commonsensism begins with epistemic sources, viz. sensory perception, self-awareness, (moral) conscience, (aesthetic) taste, and divine sense (or as I called above Native Theism). In the perceptions of the first two we intuit the most epistemically secure realities (those of which we can be sure). In the perceptions of the following three we intuit indubitable realities, but which need discernment, experience, and external guidance to avoid errors in their details. These intuitions are used as the system’s theoretical axioms. In this thesis, no great emphasis was given to taste and the reality that it perceives, beauty. Most of the space devoted to transitioning from Commonsensism to Calvinism was distributed between consciousness and the divine sense. It turns out that the divine sense is not a faculty that deceives us about reality. In fact, reality has a supernatural character, and it is very likely that there is a divine agency: someone who created, governs, and preserves the world. But this Generic Theism admits a lot of speculation about the character of this divine agency (whether it is one or many, what are its intentions, what are its capacities, by what means does it relate to us and to the world), and therefore it is necessary to look for more definitive answers. And here come the various claims of transcendent knowledge, but the one that seems most plausible is that of Jesus Christ. This position is justified with a level of detail suitable for the present thesis. With Christian Theism guaranteed, Calvinist dogmatics proceeds, ending with a new theory of the Trinity. |
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| Main Authors: | Miranda, João Pedro Marcelino |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | master thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Summary: | The aim of this thesis is to present a complete philosophical system (a broad theoretical framework) in general terms. The motivations for satisfying this objective were the need to have a system of this nature, which could be cited or referred to in works about specific topics; and the fact that there is no such system already made that includes all my foundational philosophical positions. Some call these systems worldviews, but not agreeing with this conception, I proposed the perspective of building dioramas. Any successful construction requires method and materials; both are drawn from the two great theoretical systems mentioned in the title: Commonsensism and Calvinism. The basic character of these two systems and the diorama perspective are presented at the beginning. Henceforth it follows the combined system of Common Sense Calvinism. The mode of presentation is Cartesian. The materials are advanced according to a criterion of epistemic proximity, i.e. from those things that are intuitively known to those that require experience, conceptual cataloging, and several inferential steps. As such, one begins with Commonsensism and then moves on (in a theoretically linked way) to Calvinism. The transition starts with Native Theism (the faculty of perceiving transcendent realities), then Generic Theism (a theory about how divine entities relate to the world), Christian Theism (the specification that transcendental realities are correctly described by Christianity) and finally Calvinism (the theological system that best systematizes the truths of the Christian religion). The section devoted to Commonsensism begins with epistemic sources, viz. sensory perception, self-awareness, (moral) conscience, (aesthetic) taste, and divine sense (or as I called above Native Theism). In the perceptions of the first two we intuit the most epistemically secure realities (those of which we can be sure). In the perceptions of the following three we intuit indubitable realities, but which need discernment, experience, and external guidance to avoid errors in their details. These intuitions are used as the system’s theoretical axioms. In this thesis, no great emphasis was given to taste and the reality that it perceives, beauty. Most of the space devoted to transitioning from Commonsensism to Calvinism was distributed between consciousness and the divine sense. It turns out that the divine sense is not a faculty that deceives us about reality. In fact, reality has a supernatural character, and it is very likely that there is a divine agency: someone who created, governs, and preserves the world. But this Generic Theism admits a lot of speculation about the character of this divine agency (whether it is one or many, what are its intentions, what are its capacities, by what means does it relate to us and to the world), and therefore it is necessary to look for more definitive answers. And here come the various claims of transcendent knowledge, but the one that seems most plausible is that of Jesus Christ. This position is justified with a level of detail suitable for the present thesis. With Christian Theism guaranteed, Calvinist dogmatics proceeds, ending with a new theory of the Trinity. |
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