The Irrationality of Reason (II)

Abstract

In addition to the connectives with which mind rationalizes the world, reason contributes a weight of its own to the world structure. This weight corresponds to the volume of order reason can impose upon the world. And this is a function of the amplitude we allow our metaphors of connection. Metaphor can be employed collectively or distributively, either to express the truth of finite sectors of experience, or to represent unlimited areas of experience. An example is the use of the mathematical as a metaphor for the material world. Gothic churches observe certain fixed relationships between parts, often, as in the Abbey of Fontenay, evidencing the Augustinian hierarchy of ideal proportions: 1:1, 1:2, 2:3 and 3:4. By this metaphor an important aspect of God’s Being is expressed, namely, His Lawfulness: “Thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.” But God is more than proportion: He is Love, Mercy and Beneficence. And since He is more than Proportion, the reference of the geometrical-architectural metaphor is limited a priori only to one attribute of His being. However, other theories, as for example Spinoza’s, also invoke mathematical metaphor, but use that metaphor to cover the entire matrix. For Spinoza the essence of every mode of existence is its exhibition of fixed proportions — matter obeying immutable laws of motion and rest, mind determined by invariable laws, and the laws of both mind and matter evincing the same fixed order and connection.