From Incarnation to Responsibility

Abstract

In this chapter, I provide a further account of the theme of radical passivity. In radical constructivism, there is an acknowledgement that the knowledge constructed is tested for viability in the world. How do visual experiences come to be coordinated with tactile, auditory, olfactory, or gustatory experiences? Mind and rationality need to be so powerful in the constructivist framework because otherwise it would not be able to integrate the different sense impressions. This only changes when the order of the senses comes from the sensory events themselves. Order in and from the senses precedes cognitive order. It is from this passivity also that intentionality itself emerges, a problem to which constructivists have no answer: we do not intend our intentions, they are given to us and we fly with them without ever asking ourselves who or what gave rise to an intention to do this or that. This form of passivity is also involved in decision making, which requires us to make leaps of faith because decisions, to warrant this name, inherently cannot be computed, calculated, or entirely grounded in reason.