What is transcendence, or why we can't know ourselves

"Theory and practice" continue to explain the meaning of frequently used expressions which are often used in colloquial speech in the wrong value. In this issue — what is the threshold of perception, what is common in God-and why transcendence and transcendental — not the same thing.The word "transcendent" is usually associated with transcendental meditation and various esoteric. But to use it correctly, you need at least to distinguish it from the term "transcendental", and as a maximum — to remember his role in the works of Kant and other philosophers.This concept comes from the Latin transcendens — "transcending", "beyond", "beyond". In General, it refers to something that is fundamentally inaccessible to empirical knowledge or based on experience. Background the term originated in the philosophy of Neoplatonism — founder of Dams has created the doctrine about the Uniform — all-good the first principle that it is impossible to know neither the effort of thought or through sense-experience. "United is not being, but his parents," explains the philosopher.

Why the term "transcendental" was disclosed in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, where it was used for characteristics of things-in-themselves, existing independently of the mind and acting on our senses, while remaining fundamentally unknowable, in practice and in theory. The opposite of transcendence is immanence: it means either the inherence, inner connection, any quality of the object with the object itself, or the cognition of the object into personal experience. For example, if we assume that the universe was created by some higher plan, he plan for us is transcendental — we can only speculate about it. But if this plan really exists, its consequences for us immanent, being manifested in the physical laws and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Therefore, in some theological concepts of God is transcendental and is beyond the created being.

Some of the things-in-themselves, all available a priori knowledge: for example, space and time, ideas of God, goodness and beauty, to a logical category. That is, the transcendental object is, figuratively speaking, "the default preset" in our resumerecovery transcendence exists in mathematics, a transcendental number is a number that cannot be calculated with the help of algebra, or algebraically expressed (i.e., cannot be a root of a polynomial with integer coefficients, is not identical to zero). These include, for example, the numbers π and e.

The concept is close to "transcendent", but otherwise the value is "transcendental". Originally, it meant just the area of abstract mental categories, and it was later developed by Kant, once in the trap of its own: to build a philosophical system only in the use of empirical data was impossible and no other sources of experience, in addition to empiricism, he did not recognize. To get out, the philosopher had to admit that some of the things-in-themselves, all available a priori knowledge: for example, space and time, ideas of God, goodness and beauty, to a logical category. That is, the transcendental object is, figuratively speaking, "the default preset" in our mind the information about them exists by itself and does not follow from our experience.

There is another related notion of transcendence. In the broadest sense it means crossing the boundaries between two dissimilar regions, especially the transition from the sphere to the sphere of this-worldly otherworldly, transcendental. For simplicity, let us take an example from fiction: the parallel world for the ordinary person — the transcendental phenomenon. But when the hero gets to this parallel world or somehow is able to perceive it, it is transcendence. Or more complex example of existential philosophy: Jean-Paul Sartre believed that man is transcendent because it goes beyond any possible experience. we can explore themselves and the world from different angles, but never even close to full knowledge of himself. But at the same time man has the ability to transcendence: he transcendere any thing giving it any value. Transcendence is an important element in religion: it helps people to free themselves from their material nature and to touch something transcendent.

From philosophy, the concept of transcendence made its way into the psychology of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung introduced the concept of "transcendental function" is a function that combines conscious and unconscious. In particular, a transcendental function can be performed by a psychoanalyst — he helps the patient to analyze the images of the unconscious (e.g., dreams) and associate them together with the conscious processes in the psyche.

How to speak

Wrong: "I signed up for classes in transcendental meditation." That's right — "transcendental".

Correct: "When I go to the temple, I feel a sense of merging with something transcendental."

Right "Art transcendere familiar objects of the material world, imbuing them with a higher meaning".published

P. S. And remember, just changing your mind — together we change the world! ©

Source: theoryandpractice.ru