About Tillich's System

Orginal German Edition: Google Books Link

Tillich's System of Sciences (SOS)

In this section a largely graphical overview of Tillich's System of Sciences According to Objects and Methods is presented.

The overview consitsts of this webpage and two subpages.

Objects and Methods
The Significance of Gestalt

Tilich's English translator, Paul Wiebe, makes reference to a poem by Wallace Stevens in whch the following penertrating words appear:

"The squirming facts exceeds the squamous mind" (See Link below)

Wiebe writes, that if Tillich had been a poet, he might have written these words. But Tillich was an "architect of idea." Tillich’s basic premise, according to Wiebe is that "being (the multifarious world) eludes thought (the human mind) in infinite degree.”…

The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens. p. 217: Google Books Link

Setting the Stage: Thought, Being, Spirit, Objects, and Methods

Tillich discusses the “Meaning and Value of the System of Sciences (SOS)” in the Preface and General Foundations sections of the SOS.

Key points made for the value of a “Science of the Sciences” include:

To be known is to be assigned: “In order for an object to be known, it must be assigned its necessary place within a context.“ (General Foundations, p.29)
Distinguishing the branches of the sciences: “The organization of the sciences depends, first of all, on the variety of objects of knowledge. It is of the highest material significance to discover how the different branches of science are distinguished from each other.” (General Foundations, p.31.)
The relations between objects and methods: “The methods by which knowledge grasps objects corresponds to the objects themselves. Therefore, the most important task of the system of the sciences is to determine the relation between methods and objects.” (General Foundations, p.31.)

Therefore, the title A System of Sciences according to Objects and Methods.

The System Has One Principle!

“If we refer to the act by which consciousness directs itself at something for the sake of grasping it objectively as “thought,”…

…”and if we refer to that which the act is directed, as “being, we have distinguished thought and being as the two basic elements of knowledge.

“Every systematic classification of the sciences must proceed from one principle that can only be the essence of science itself. Though this axiom is indubitable, it has often been neglected.”
Therefore the one principle is established.

What is the relationship between the two elements (Thought and Being) present in the cognitive act?

1. Thought posits Being as that which is comprehended or conceived, as that which is determined by thought.

(Principle of Absolute Thought)

2. Thought seeks Being as that which is strange and incomprehensible, as that which resists thought. (Principle of Absolute Being).

3. Thought is present to itself in the act of thought; it is directed toward itself and thus makes itself an existent. (The Principle of Spirit)

Thought Sciences, Being Sciences, Spirit Sciences

"In thought sciences, scientific knowledge is directed toward those forms that are essential to thought."

Phenomenology requires further analysis but is discussed in detail.

"In the sciences of being the "other" is the problem. The conflict between thought and being pervades every empirical cognition."

"...[in the Spiritual Sciences] are those acts in which the individual gestalt establishes its

relations to reality in freedom, or in a valid way."