Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book traces three stages in the development of Professor Dooyeweerd’s thinking from his early attempts in the nineteen twenties to produce a ‘Calvinistic Philosophy’ to his transcendental critique of theoretical thought which he started in 1941 and completed in his New Critique of Theoretical Thought. It shows that in these three stages he puts forward different ideas on the influence of religious belief on philosophy and that all these ideas involve some difficulties for him. The book discusses these difficulties in more detail and tried to show that Dooyeweerd’s claim that all philosophy is determined by religious presuppositions does not fit easily with his attempt to provide a common basis for debate between different Philosophies.