Download pdf file - Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy

Feringer Notes - CIRCULATION OF THOUGHT - 1954 34 of 65
liberalism (no change calls for change). THIS, ERH CALLS HIGHER LOGIC. p.11
We know that it is the heart of life, that our minds are so tyrannical, so absolutist, that the mind
must be opposed by mind.
It is no merit to have unanimity in mental cases.The hearts must be united, and the minds must
oppose each other...Your heart must be united, but not your mind.
You remember...that soul and mind are totally different. Here you discover the practical need for
dialectics,...One person saying, "This illness comes from this reason," and the other saying the
very opposite.And they must not stone each other, but they must invite opposition in the mind.As
long as their souls remain united...The soul is one, the heart one.The hearts of man must remain
one. (p.12)
Lecture - 16
1.To become human, to rise above the purely animal state, we must attempt to find a true
conception of the world, and of our experience.One early step in this process is distinguishing the
characteristics of phenomena so that we can find some modicum of order to understand our
experience.Otherwise we end up with any number of mental complexes and frustrations that
create barriers to any fulfilling life.
Classification is fundamental to the process of "ordering." The most fundamental events in our
lives are our own nature, the nature of things, and the nature of the powers that control nature.
Another way of putting these questions would be, the nature of humankind, of things, and of
God.The second step is to identify not only general characteristics but also uniqueness of events,
and to ascertain the meaning of each as related to our daily decision making. For instance, what
are the universal qualities of all humans, and what is unique about Abraham Lincoln, orJimmy
Smith; what do we carry into the future and how do we interpret events in the present?
To classify "rightly" is always controversial, but controversy, when entered into in the spirit of
finding truth, is the essential key to growth and change. All important issues are controversial by
definition until some modicum of agreement settles the issue (at least for a time).
2.The true university must bring out the opposing (controversial) logic to any problem.We
progress only when, confronted with powerful, convincing logic and evidence against our own
beliefs, we are willing to renounce those principleswe hold to be most obvious. This is
accomplished in a spirit of acceding to a "voluntary ignorance." Willingness to doubt is crucial
for finding truth.
For example, when Max Planck in 1900 said there was no gradual increase in quantity, he
opposed common logic. His opposing view had never been investigated before,but "quanta"
bunches are now commonly accepted as true. He developed a higher logic to explain both
apparent gradual increase and quantum increases in energy.