*ffi*H - l
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DOCTRINAL
Part One A New Mentality and a New Doctrine Seek to Reconcile the Most Contradictory t Can the barriers betweentruth and error, good and evil, beauf and uglinessbe broken down? The deadeningof the principle of contradiction: the root of the disconcertingapathy dominating public opinion today. A new ideology that devoursall others from within and that thoroughly conditions present-daySpain. The Spanishpeople induced to turn against their own historic identity.
tl,.ir l ::::l'j
.,
Chapter t
Clarity and Obscurity Suruounding the Principle oI Contradiction Erplaining the Apathy of Many Spaniards Today
f. An Apathy That Affects Primarily the fntelligence and the WilII I-TUMPER cars,narcosis,anesthesia aremetaphorsthat we have drawn from a most palpablereality to describe the strangeapathy that has lulled to sleepever-broader sectorsof public opinion. Theseimagesprovide access for an examinationof a more complexreality, the atony of the soul. Let us considerthis more closely. In faceof the most disturbingevents,the most obvious contradictions, the most glaring aberrations, so many Spaniardsreactwith silenceand passivity.In most cases, this is not due to any hasty changeof convictions or destructiveintellectual process.Rather, it indicatesthe existenceof a lazinesswhereby an individual concerns himselfonly with what is happeningin his particular surroundings. There follows a paralysisof the capacityto judge events,to categoricallyaffirm or desiresomething, to flatly deny or reject anything, and consequently,to react with seriousness,energyand efficacy. We are not dealing with mere resignationbefore the advanceof that which contradictsa person'smost deeprooted convictionsand which threatenshis own interests. Rather, an increasinglygxeaternumber of Spaniardshave becomeactuallyindifferent to what directly affectstheir individual lives.Without abandoningtheir way of thinking, they seemto have placedit within a kind of parenthesis.Just as a ray of light or a gazecan enter a crystal without altering it, the indifferent soulsof thesepersons seemlike glass;eventsenter into them almost without leaving a mark. In face of the most absurdthings, they
do not becomeupsetaslong astheir private livesare not disturbed. This phenomenonis taking place not only in Spain. It can be observedall over the contemporary world. Everywhere,sociologists,politicians and educatorsare concernedabout how most peoplearenotoriouslydistancing themselvesfrom public life and culture in general. In France,for example,the declineof man's rationality is a subject of debate in face of the growing public disinterestin great problems and generalhappeningsthat transcendthe small horizonsof daily life.* * This debate has been especiallyhighlighted with the release of the book with the suggestive title La Ddfaite de la Pensde (The Defeat of Thought) by the young philosopher Alan Finkielkrant. This defeat or decline of intellectual life had already been the object of specialized polls, such as one published by the Parisian magazine L'Express n 1983which concluded that rational language and logic have a diminishing influence upon the French, and that "gestures, emotions and moods carry more weight. Public opinion is tending to transform itself into public sensibility" (See L'Express, 8/26 to 9/l of 1983).
Among us this phenomenonis paradigmaticallycritical, sincethe Spanishspirit hasalwaysbeencharacterized by preciselythe contrary. Therewasa time whenthis nation was called the sword of Christendom. Today this mysteriousapathy is converting the steelof this sword into tinplate. Public opinion, attackedby this evil, easilyfalls prey to a type of propagandathat knows how to stimulateits momentaryappetitesand phobiasthrough subtleimpressions.Evenwith this frst glanceat the phenomenon,one can seethat this inertia profoundly affects the most noble faculties of the soul: It numbs the intelligenceand the will and weakensthe capacity for resistance.
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Eventsthat would formerly wound public sensibilitiesand awakenclamorousreactions disturbalmostno oneand provokeno serious conflict today. In this sense,present-daySpain seemslike a bumper car attraction where a strangepublic apathy-a social narcosis -plays the deadeningrole of the rubber bumperson the cars.This apathyhasenabled
the SSWPto set its revolution in motion, a revolution that is undoubtedly"astonishing" but enigmatically"tranquil."
One possibleexplanation: Things are happeningas if the principle of contradiction were deteriorating in souls.
Clarity and Obscurity Sunounding the Principle of Contradiction
ff. The Decisive Role
of the Principle of Contradiction in Thinking,
Desiring and Acting
Everythingindicatesthat we are witnessingthe corrosion of that which Saint Thomasconsidersthe indispensableprinciple on which all thinking, desiringand doing is based, the principle of contradiction. What is the principle of contradiction?It is very easy to explain and was until a short time ago taught at least summarily in high school courses.We will set out the essentialideas of the subject.
t.
I'irst and Supreme of Thought
Princlple
How could a mother teachher child the namesof things ifthat child did not alreadyhavethe capacityto perceive that things exist as individual beings,different in themselvesand distinct from other things? Who teachesthis primary and elementarydiscernment of reality to the child? Surelyno teacher.It happensthat man is born alreadypredisposedto unequivocallyapply the so-calledfirst principlesof natural reason,which he beginsto use spontaneouslyupon enteringinto contact with the world around him. Thesefirst principlesare so evident in so many casesthat they do not need to be taught.* * Renowned French Thomist Father R. GarrigouLagrange,O.P., affirms: "The child doesnot ueeda teacherto teach him the principlesof contradiction, substance, reasonofbeing, causality,finality. By tiring us with his questions,the child seeksthe causesand the ends.Furthermore,if he did not possess theseprinciples, theteacherwould not be ableto actupon him, asis stated by Aristotle: 'Omnisdoctrinaet omnisdisciplinaexpreexistentifit cognitione'IAll doctrineand disciplineis known from somethingalreadyknownl" (Garrigou-Lagrange, R,, El SentidoComun,p. 155). Saint Thomasteaches:"That with which the human reasonis naturally endowedis clearlymosttrue, so much so that it is impossiblefor us to think of suchtruths as false," and, "The knowledgeofthe principlesthat are known to us naturallyhavebeenimplantedin us by God; for God is the Author of our nature" (SummaContra Gentiles,book I, chap,7, Notre Dame,Ind.: Univ. of Notre DamePress,1975,p. 74. Concerningthe innate natual habit of understanding the first principles,see alsoSummoTheologica,I-II, q. 51, a. l). Among these principles, the most simple and universal is an initial and most primary notion of things without which the intelligence could not conceive anything. Fur-
thermore,it is a generalnotion of being, upon which the first principle of reasoning depends. Saint Thomas, following Aristotle, definesthis asthe first and supreme principle of thinking. This principle is the principle of contradiction,the most simpleand universalof all judgments, which can be stated in the following manner: It is impossiblefor a thing to be and not be at the same time.r * SaintThomasteaches:"For that whichfirst falls under apprehensionis being,the understandingof which is included in all things whatsoevera man apprehends. Therefore,the frst indemonstrableprinciple is that the samething cannot be affirmed and deniedat the same time, whichis basedon the notion of beingand not being: and on this principleall othersarebased,asis stated in [Aristotle's] MetophIV" (SummaTheologica,I-II, q. 94,a.2, in Basic lltritingsof St. ThomasAquinas,vol. 2, ed.by Anton Pegis,NewYork: RandomHouse,1945, p. 774.SeealsoII-II, q. l, a.7). Fr. Garrigou-Lagrangeexplainsthis in the following way: "St. Thomas,in his Commentaryon the fourth book of Aristoie's Metaphysics(Lect. VD, provesthat theremust be a transcendentprinciple, by which simple andjudgment,the first two operationsof apprehension the mind, are compared.Therecanbe no suchthing as an indefiniteseriesof concepts,for by the analysisof than otherswe finalthosewhicharemorecomprehensive ly arrive at a fust concept,the simplestand most universal of all, namely,the conceptof being-Ihat which exists or can exist.This ideaof being,which is impliedin all other ideas, must be absolutelythe first for the intellect, which otherwise could form no concept of anything whatever.If, in the seriesof concepts,thereis one that is first, then in the seriesof judgment, the simplestand mostuniversalof all judgments,must dependupon the first idea, and being must be the subject of the proposition, and what first of all appliesto being must constitutethe predicate.By what formula can this Aristotle saysthat 'it is truth be accuratelyexpressed? impossiblefor anything to exist and not to exist at the sametime and in the samesense.'This axiom may be in a simplerform by saying:'That which is, expressed cannotbe that which is not.' . . . "It is in this formula . . . that St. Thomas and his school,followingAristotle,recognizethe supremeprinciple of thought, which they call the principle of contradiction.. . . "As for the principleof identity, it may be formulated thus:'Beingis being,or, everybeingis being.'Expressed in this simple, though apparentlytautoligical form, the principleof identityprecedes that of contradiction,and this for the reasonwe wish to expressexplicitly the notion of identity containedin the formulawhich enunciates the principleof identity,it mustassumethe simpleform of the principleof contradiction"(Garrigou-Lagrange, and HisNature,vol. l, pp. 158-160.) God:Hb Existence The first proof of this principle lies in the fact that men can know and think. Without realizing it, we constantly apply this principle. Without it, we could not distinguish between what exists and what does not, nor between one being and another. We could not perceive that we are
DOCTRINAL ANTECEDENTS
different from a table, an elephantor an ant. A shepherd, for example,would not know if he were man or wolf, nor if a wolf were a sheep.We would not havea notion of the hierarchythat existsamongall things in Creation; we would not be able to distinguishman from irrational nature and the cosmos;we would not know of the existenceof a Creator Who is personal,transcendent,infinitely distinct and superior to all His creaturesand Who definesHimselfas: "I am Who am" @xod. 3:14). Everything would be confused.We would be immersed in the worst of absurdities.
2. Without This Prinelple, Truth and Error, Good and Dvll Could Not Be Dtsttngufuhed, Brlnging About Absolute Apathy in the f,igher Powers of the SouI a) The distinctionbetweentruth and error, a necessary foundation for culture. If the first evidenceof this principle allows man to distinguishimmediatelybetweenbeing and not-being,man alsounderstandsby connaturality the universal correlative conceptsof truth and error. Truth is identified with being sinceit lies in the faithful correspondence betweenthe idea and the reality. Error lies in falsehoodand the lie sincethe idea and reality do not correspond;it is the absenceof truth, and, as such, is identified with not-being.r* * Fr. Victorino Rodriguez, O.P., one of the most renowned contemporary Thomists, formulates this distinction: "When an affirmation or negation corresponds to what a thing is or is not respectively, there is truth; if not, there is falsity. This precise meaning of the truth correspondswell to the notion given by Aristotle: right judgment" (La verdod liberadora, p. 778).
From the principleof contradictionand the othercorrelatedfirst principles,reasonnot only understands the universaldistinction betweentruth and error but is also capableof transmittingthe knowledgeof one thing to another. In this way, it acquiressuccessive truths by alwaysmaking contrastsexplicitly or implicitly, between what is or what is not; what is greateror lesser;and what is true or false.* r Good and truth, not only by virtue of Revelation but also by the very principle ofcontradiction itself, are not merely subjective and mutable categories.They have an absolute foundation. About this, Leo XIII teaches: "But the character of goodness and truth cannot be changedat option. Theseremain ever one and the same, and are no lessunchangeablethan nature herself. Ifthe l. SeeSummaTheologica,I, q. 16,a. 3, and IJI, q. 64, as.3 and 4.
mind ascentsto false opinions and the will choosesand follows after what is wrong, neither can attain its native fullness but both must fall from their native dignity into an abyssof corruption" (Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885, in The Greot Encyclical Letters of Leo XIil, Benziger Brothers, New York, 1903, p. 124). The celebrated teacher of Thomists, Fr. Santiago Ramlrez, O.P., defends the absolute character of first principles as the basis of truth: "The Orteguian idea of the truth, based on its radical historcism and mobilism, excludes all fixity and immutability of the same, eventhough it be one of the first principles, like that of contradiction, identity and the third excluded, which it expressly denies (V, 527-528). "All this has been condemned by Pius XII in his encyclical Humoni Generis, which we have also cited: 'It is not licit to deny the truth or the value of human understanding, particularly from the inconclusive principles of the metaphysical, such as that of sufficient reason,that of causality and that of finality, nor is it permitted to deny the possibility of an absolutely true metaphysics- absoluto veram-whereby man can reach the understanding of a certain and immutable truthcertae et inmuta bilis ver i tat is assecuti onem-' (A. A. 5., 42 Il950l 572-573).If this can be said of the principles of sufficient reason and efficient and final causality, a fortiori it should be understood for those of contradiction, identity and third excluded, which are its foundation. . . . "It happens that this can be said of many expressed doctrines which are scientifically proven as absolutely true by their very nature: for example, the principle of third excluded, call it what Ortega may, the principle of sufficient reason, that of efficient cause,that of final cause, theorem and mathematicalexpressions,such as the whole is greater than the part, and the sum of the angles of a triangle equalstwo right angles,two plus two equal four, and so many others. Here no error can be made nor is there room for any. Thus, there are absolutetruths" (Un Orteguismo Cotdlico? pp. 76,77, 80).
The Catholic knows that in this search [for truth], wherebyhe apprehends by deductiveand inductivereason the principlesand specificlaws of theology,philosophy, the sciencesand human knowledgein general, he can, moreover,countupon the assistance of the supremeand infallible Magisterium of the Church. b) Good should be done and evil avoided. If, on the speculativeplane, the principle of contradiction makes man seethe distinctionsbetweenbeingand not beingand truth and error as primarily and immediatelyevident,on the operativeplaneit is the first natural moral principle. SaintThomasexplainsthat the good, like the truth, identifies itself with being; this is becauseall beingsby their nature desirethe good sinceit is fitting to their natures, sustainingand perfectingthem. On the contrary, evil is the absenceof good.2 Thus, the principle of contradiction showsman that he should seekthat which is connatural with his own 2. Cf. ib., I, q. 5, a. l; I, q. 48, as. I and 2.
Salnt Thomao Aqulnae, Doctor ol tho Church. Detall ol lhe Trlumph ol Salnt Thonrae and Allegory oI the Artsby Andr6e of Florence. Santa tarla l{ovella, Florence.
From the principle of contradiction,which Saint Thomas Aquinas definesas the first and supremeprinciple of thinking, man is capableof knowing and thinking. Without it, we would not be able to distinguishbetweenwhat is and what is not. We would not be ableto distinguishbetweentruth and error, good and evil, beautyand ugliness.Everythingwould be confused;we would sink into the worst of absurdities.
DOCTRINAL ANTECEDENTS
being, that which will strengthenhim and benefit him, that is, the good.And he shouldavoidthat whichwould harm and weakenhis being,that is, evil. From theseconclusionscomesthat unavoidableprinciple that should guide human conduct:One should do good and avoid evil.3 SacredScripturesays:"Good is set againstevil, and life againstdeath:so alsois the sinneragainsta just man. And so look upon all the works of the most High. Two and two, and one againstanother" (Ecclus.33:15). All will agreethat oneshoulddo good and avoid evil. But somewill object, "Who can concretelyshowus what the good actuallyis?" SaintThomas,respondingto this objection,citesthe Psalmist:"The light of thy face, Lord, has remained impressedon our minds." The AngelicDoctor explains that God not only endowsnatural reasonwith the capacity to make the universaldistinctionbetweengood and evil, but alsoto know the generaloperativeprinciplesthat permithim to practicewhat is good and avoid evil. This leadspreciselyto the Natural Law which is impressed give on the soul, and to which our own consciences testimony.It is, moreover,summarizedin the Ten Commandmentsof the Law of God. The habit of knowing the first moral principles,which Saint Thomas calls is incorruptible.aFinally, by exercisingprusynderesis, dence,man can apply generalmoral principlesto concretecircumstances.* * Saint Thomas refers to this capacity of knowing "the first practical principles, bestowed on us by nature" as a "special natural habit, which we call synderesis." And the Angelic Doctor continues: "Whence synderesisis said to incite to the good, and to murmur at evil . . ." (Summa Theologica, l, q. 79, a. l2). Another notable Dominican theologian, Fr. Te6filo Urdanoz, summarizesthe doctrine of Saint Thomas on this theme: "Fassing on to spiritual habits, Saint Thomas finds habits which are the extreme contrary of the totally incorruptible habits. These are the habits of the first speculativeprinciple and that ofthe moral principles, or synderesis.They do not suffer direct destruction because they have no opposing dispositions. No error or omission can prevail against the immediate intellectual proofs produced by the ineformable judgments of principles, even of the moral order. Natural law cannot be erased from the heart of man (q. 94, a.4, 6)" (Introduction to question 53, "Destruction and Diminution of the Habits," in Summa Theologica,vol. 5, pp. ll9-120). Fr, Santiago Ramfrez, O.P., explains the relationship between synderesisand prudence: "Prudence can also be essentiallydistinguished from synderesiseven though the latter is a merely intellectual virtue practiced like prudence. This is becauseits proper 3, Cf . SummaTheologica,I-II, q. 94, a. 2 and I, q. 5, a. l. 4. Cf. ibid., I-II, q. 91, a. 2| l-ll, q. 94, as. l-2 and I, q. 79, a. 12; I-II, q. 53, a. l; I, q. 17,a.3 and I-II, q. I, a. 3.
and specific function is not knowing through knowing, but knowing the first most universal principles of the moral order, thereby immediately and efficiently regulating the natural appetite of the will according to the good and common well-being.This appetiteis always and necessarilyupright sincethe judgment of synderesis regulates it according to the aforementioned principles which are always and necessarilytrue, 'just as natural understanding is always true, and natural love always upright' (Summa Theologica, I, 6, I ad 3), "But prudenceis distinguishedfrom synderesisin that the latter considers everything feasible in its greatest universality, while prudence in its greatest particularity or singularity; the former, the universal ends (also called the first principles of the moral order); the latter, the particular means for dealing with the final or singular conclusions of the aforementioned order; the fust delivers its judgments or opinions without discussion,becausethe truth is manifest in itself; the secondprefersto do so after having investigated and discovered them by means of discourse and counsel, becauseits truth or rectitude is not of itself evident; synderesisresidesin the practical understanding as simple intelligence, that is, as mere judging without discourse;prudenceresidesin this samepractical understanding as a reason and not as simple intelligence, becauseit residesin the practical understanding as discursive; the judgment of synderesisis given to us naturally without effort; that of prudence we have to seek out with our own effort and work; synderesisis inadmissible, prudence can be lost by sin" (Lo Prudencra, pp. 84-85)
c) The emptinessof not-thinking, the inertia of notdesiring.What, then, would the intellectualand operative life of man be like without the light of the principleof contradiction? The intelligence could comprehend nothing; the will would receivefrom the intelligenceno reasonto tendtoward onemeaningor another.It would be a vacuity of not-thinking and the inertia of notdesiring,the absoluteapathyof the superiorpowersof the soul. If this were possible,the primacy of the sensibility would transform man into a purelyinstinctiveand animal being. True faith, moral conduct, culture and civilizationcould not evenexist.
3" Absolute
Law
of the Order
of Being
The principle of contradictionis not only the supreme principleof logic, without which thinking and knowledge would plummet into absurdity, and the first law of upright and fecund human operation; it is also the first and universallaw of the order of being.Without it, reality and beingscould not exist. This principle is an absolute one that does not and cannot have a contrary principle. Heat is opposedto cold, flavor to tastelessness, freedomto slavery,piety to impiety. However, there is no principle contrary to that of contradiction. Not even God Himself can change
10
DOCTRINAL ANTECEDENTS
this, becauseHe "cannot desirethat which is impossible."s (Seeinsert at right.) Actually this principle subsistsin a veiledway in the very sophismsthat try to deny its value. Thosewho deny it, Aristotle affirms, are lying to themselves.6
4. Cornerstone of Thomlsm, L,lfeblood of Common Sense Saint Thomas madethe principle of contradiction the cornerstoneof his great intellectualwork-a work consideredby so many Roman Pontiffs as the most perfect expressionof perennialphilosophyin admirableharmony with revealedtruth. Saint Pius X adoptedas his own all praise,commendand approval for the his predecessors' doctrine of Saint Thomas,orderingtheseteachingsto be observedreligiouslyand insistentlywarningthat to abandon Saint Thomas in all questionsof metaphysicsis a very grave evil. "Such a treasureof doctrine" said the holy Pontiff, "does not permit sanereasonto scornit, nor doesfaith toleratethat it shouldbe mutilated or diminished,above all becauseoncethe Catholicfaith is deprivedof this solid defense,in vain would it seekhelp in other philosophies more or less allied with materialism, pantheism or modernism."T Pius XII reaffirms, "His doctrineis in harmonywith divine revelation,and is most effectiveboth for safeguarding the foundation of the faith and for reaping, safely and usefully, the fruits of sound progress."s However, this principle is not only the lifeblood that sustainsthe soaring flights of philosophy, but also that which nourishesthe simple common senseof upright men, includingthe lesscultured.Proof of this liesin the popularwisdomthat is expressed in innumerableproverbs.
5. Ihe Prlneiple of Contradietlon, Order and Peaee a) A Constant Threat to Unity and Peace?Some readers, influenced by a certain relativistic pacifism, might ask: "Doesn't this capacity,this principleof contradiction, wherebyone distinguishes,defines,classifies, and differentiates, affect the life of men and history, becoming a constant factor of sterile discordsand enmities threateningunity and peace?" 5. Summo Contra Gentiles,bk. I, chap. 84. Seealso chap. 7. 6. Garrigou-Lagrange,El Sentido Comin, p, 186. 7. Introducci6n generala lo Suma Teol6gico,B.A.C, vol, l, p. 134, 135and 137. 8. Humani Generis,Aug. 12, 1950,$31,St. Paul Editions,Boston.
By analyzing this profoundly, we understand that preciselythe contrary takesplace.Certainly, the principle of contradiction has servedas a departurepoint for wars and fights in the past, and it will always be so. But without the application of this principlg men would undoubtedly haveflung themselvesinto chaos.For examplg traffic norms quite frequentlycausecomplaints,conflict, lawsuits, expenseand inconvenience.However,it would obviouslybe foolish to suppressall suchnorms to promote concordin a city. This would be total disorder. b) What Would Happen in a Society Where Men Would Deny the Religious,Moral, Cultural and Social Consequences of the Principle of Contradiction? If the majority of men were to deny not the principle of contradiction itself but only its religious,moral, cultural and social projections, relativism, ambiguity and absurdity would be establishedin society. The Catholic religion would becomeincomprehensible. Everythingwould at the sametime be good and evil, true and false. No principle could subsist,not evenHe Who subsistsby Himself: God would be confoundedwith tribal idols, with man, natureor matter.Our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, would be no different from Buddha, Confucius or Mohammed. The basic institutions of societywould becomeso distorted as to be unrecognizable. The notion of a natural objectivelaw and positive law would vanish. The boundary betweenthe lawful and the unlawful would becomeambiguousand disappear.Order and public morality would losetheir support. Fundamental political notions about forms of government,division of powersand public administration would be erratig and politico-ideological debates would be lost in an iner<tricable morass.The very notions of homeland,nation, stateand organizedsocietywould be permeatedwith confusion. The boundarieswould be erasedbetweenChurch and state, betweenthe various states,peoples,cultures and civilizations. The denial of the principle of contradiction taken to its final consequences would result in a state of affairs that would not, properly speaking, be that universal totalitarian republic announcedby the old ideologues or by the classicinternationalists of Marxism, but a worldwide superstructurerenderingeverythinguniform while at the sametime demolishingand confusingeverything. In short, it would be an image of hell itself. c) Safeguardof True Liber$, Order and Peace.Applyrng the principle of contradiction in all fields and in all its proper dimensionsis neithera merelynegativetask nor a causeof discord. Rather, it defendsthe identity of beingsagainstfactorsof disintegration.It permitspersons, families and regions,towns and nations, cultures
Spain-called the Sword of Christendomin times past-understood that it should walk toward an ever more effective and integral Catholicity lest it becomean irremediably divided nation given over to aII types of political and social outrages.
Sword ol Hernando Gort6s, Royal Armory, Madrld.
l3
Clarity and Obscurity Surrounding the Principle of Contradiction
and civilizations, to developtheir own potential and reach their full achievement. Thus, the principle of contradictionis the bulwark for the liberty of all that is naturally good and true, protecting them againstthe evil and erroneouscausesof disorder and disintegration. By strengthening and expanding the vigor and scopeof certainties,this principle permitsman to fully develophis creativecapacityin the waysof good and truth. d) Spain and the Principle of Contradiction. The desire to delveprofoundly into all aspectsof the principle of contradiction has alwayscharacterizedthe Spanishsoul. The inherentvitality of this principle providesthe impact force of Spain's great deedsof heroism and most genuine manifestationsof cultural talent. The great pages of Spain's history illustrate this. Relativisticmen, lacking certaintiesor convictions,would not have had the vigor of soul to discover,civilize and evangelizethreecontinentswhile at the sametime preserving Spain's Catholic unity, giving the West the splendor of its Golden Age, and transforming it into the victorious bastion of ChristendomagainstTurkish power and the Protestant revolution. That past knew the salutary fruits of the principle of contradiction and understoodSpain's obligation to advancetoward an increasinglyeffectiveand integralCatholicity, lest it be devouredby its contrary. Thus its people were profoundly marked by the exampleand works of SaintTeresaand Saintlgnatius.Spainunderstoodthat either it adapt itself in the temporal order to the idea of the Counterreformation,or elsebe irremediablydivided and givenoverto all typesof political and socialoutrages. 8. t'I WtlI
Put Dnmities
. . .t' (Gen. B:15)
It is not enoughjust to know that the principle of contradiction existsand that it is the foundation of the actual order of things, the intellectual life, and the active life according to the natural and moral law. It is likewisenecessary to considerthat it imposes,by its absolute characterbut obviously without jeopardizing the norms of prudence,an absoluteincompatibility between good and evil, error and truth. Evil and error, being nothing but the absenceof good and truth, are not entities in themselves.They do not existby themselvesand thus cannot have any rights or be tolerated. Therefore, just as the good and truth shouldbe loved and defended, evil and error should be hated and combated.* i The traditional doctrine of the Church in this marter is concisely expressedby Pope Pius XII:
"First, that which does not respond to the truth and to the moral norm has no objective right to existence, to propaganda, to action. Second, he who cannot prevent i1 by means of civil laws and coercive dispositions will undoubtedly find himself justified by the interest of a superior and rnore universal good" (Discourse to the Fifth National Congtess of the Union of ltalian Catholic Jurists, 12/6/1953, sec. l7). On this subject, Father Victorino Rodriguez comments: 'intolerance,' in the proper "The content ofthe term senseit has in the EcclesiasticMagisterium (a firm position for good without ceding in face of evil), is more positive than negative: It is a negative attitude in face of evil becauseof a firm positive attitude toward good. Proportionally, the term 'tolerance,' which is understood in a very positive sensein today's language, in its theological significance (permitting evil becauseit does not impede greater goods or provoke greater evils) is charged with a negative sense,as its very idea reveals" (Sobre lo libertad religiosa, p, 60). The illustrious Thomist also affirms: "Through a certain intolerance complex, a certain pseudo-economiccompromise or a lack of appreciation and zeal for the truth, some Catholic theologians in the times of the SecondVatican Council spoke of the rights of error and the danger of being mistaken. They made concrete the 'freedom of thought and expression' of nineteenth-century liberalism that was incorporated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (Arts. 17 and l8). "Correctly speaking,the right to make a mistake is inadmissible. The right, and even more the natural right, is to order things for the good of man, for the perfection that is due him (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, I, 21, I ad 3), which, in the ambit of knowing, is the truth, the verum; and, since the right has the right, the error, as a deviation or distortion, formally detestsit; the right to be wrong results in a contradiction ofitself' (La verdad liberadorq, pp. 799-800).
This hatred for evil and error is derivedfrom the very nature of things. It is the only legitimatehatred sinceit participatesin the hatred God has for evil. It is also a condition for a balancedand clearvision ofreality.* If this were not so, what would be the meaningof the exclamationof the prophetSimeonbeforethe Infant Jesus: "Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted" (Luke 2:34\2What would be the meaning of the words of Our Lord JesusChrist: "I camenot to sendpeace,but the sword" (Matt. 10:34)? * "The holy hatred of evil, whatever one may say, is truly a necessarylight for a judgment to be impartial. For a profound knowledge of good, we must love it. For a real knowledge of evil, we must hate it" (GarrigouLagrange, God: His Existence ond His Nature, vot. 2, p. ll9, n. 66). The incomparable
apostle of devotion
to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Saint Louis Marie Grignion De Montfort, speaksabout this holy hatred: "God hasnevermadeand formed but one enmity; but it is an irreconcilableone, which shall endureand grow
t4
DOCTRINAL ANTECEDENTS
evento the end. [t is betweenMary, His worthy Mother' and the devil-between the children and the servantof the BlessedVirgin, and the childrenand toolb of Lucifer. The most terrible of all the enemieswhich God has set up againstthe devil is His holy Mother Mary. He hasinspired her, even sincethe days of the earthly paradise, though sheexistedthen only in His idea, with so much hatred againstthat cursedenemyof God, with so much ingenuityin unveilingthe maliceof that ancientserpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crushthat proud, impiousrebel,that he fearsher not only more than all angelsand men, but in a sensemore than God Himself."e* * This divinely sanctioned reality inspired the vibrant words of Marian piety of Ernest Hello: "Judith . . . is one of the least known types of Mary. . . . In her the BlessedVirgin is revealed to us in one of her most unfamiliar aspects. The woman is representedto us in a forgotten aspect, that of horror. Where the feeling of horror is absent,there is neither love nor light. . . . Without doubt, the BlessedVirgin had at heart a holy and vehement horror of evil which is like a forgotten lamp left burning in the recessesof a sanctuary, and the discovery of this hatred will be, perhaps, one of the astonishments of eternity. "Many booklets and little pictorial representationshave attributed an insipid sweetnessto the BlessedVirgin Mary. It is a silly kind of sweetnesswhich doesnot seemto have deep down within itself the capacity of being horrified' which is that saintly faculty of holding certain things in detestation.This detestationof evil is the rarest of virtues and the most forgotten of glories' But the Virgin was not 'I unmindful of God's words: . . . will put enmities between thee and the woman. She shall crush thy head' (Gen. 3:15). "It is difficult for us to know to what low level this sentiment of holiness has sunk in many men, becausethey look upon it as something soft, feeble, deprived as it is of that terrible energy inspired by detestation. Now, if hatred of evil has beenthe experienceof all the saints, if not one of them has beenwithout this light, how brilliant this light must have been in Mary. . . . Judith is the answer of Scriptue to the forgetfulness of men who seein holiness the effacement of personality and the foolishness of accepting all things without hating their contraries" (Paroles de Dieu, Part II, cited in Garrigou-Lagrange' God: His Ertstence ond His Noture,vol,2, pp. I l8-l l9).
fff. The Present Deadening of the Principle of Contradiction' fts Genesis and ScoPe We have just demonstratedhow the Spanish soul, molded through the centuriesby religion and history, is being deformed at its very root. 9. Saint Louis Grignion De Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Montfort Fathers,Bayshore,N.Y.' 1946' p. 35.
The fecundvigor of the principleof contradiction,with hasbeenthe force, flower all its legitimateconsequences, Spanish spirit, the robust founof the and the adornment people, its and the natural sense of dation of the common militancy were which faith and Catholic support upon is especialproperlyestablished. historical identity Spain's principle of contradiction. ly linked to its adhesionto the By its fidelity to this principle, it has arousedadmiration and countered defamation. Never did it manifest that disinterestor disdainthat characterizespeoplewho have lost their character. The apathythat paralyzesso many Spaniardstoday indicatesa deterioration of the principle of contradiction in souls.Throughoutthe chaptersof this book, we will have the opportunity to touch upon the overwhelming reality of the facts.
l.
Theoretieallyr This l)eadenlng
How Far Proeess
Can Go?
a) The Principle of Contradiction Cannot be Eliminated but Can be Deadenedto SurprisingDegrees.We point out that the habit of applyingthe principle of contradiction, however restrictedit may be in its development, can neverbe eliminatedfrom the human soul. This is becauseit is indelibly inscribed therein and inherent to the very nature of things. Both Saint Thomas and Aristotle prove this. Obviously, we are not affirming that man is born with this principle alreadyexplicit or, evenless,developedin In developingthe habit of applying all its consequences. this and the other first principles of reasonand natural morals, an undeniablerole is obviouslyplayedby the environmentin which a personis formed and the person's own efforts, assistedby grace,to developand applythem. However,eventhough it is impossibleto eradicatethe principle of contradiction from the human mind, a changeof circumstancesresponsiblefor its development can lead to a surprising and even disconcertinglevel of deadeningof the principle. b) The Caseof Certain IndigenousTribes. Let us consider, for example,the state of intellectual, moral and cultural decadenceof certain indigenoustribes. The savagesgenerallyhavea very keensensorycapaclty that enablesthem to perceive,for example,the galloping of horsesmiles away. However, their capacityfor rational comprehensionand their will to comprehendand act is limited by the restrictive boundariesof an elementary tribal life. The instincts and the sensibilitiesacquire a primacy over the intelligenceand will; the force of application of the principle of contradiction and its correlatives
16
DOCTRINAL ANTECEDENTS
hasbeendiluted. They do not clearly distinguishthe boundariesthat separatereality from the irnagination, and they Iive submergedin magical-instinctivethought that shackles them to the arbitraritiesof superstitionand that permits, in somecases,suchaberrantpracticesas cannibalism. Their capacityto distinguishand analyzeis so diminishedthat the missionaries,finding the persuasive forceof logic of very limited usefor wangelizingthem, wereobliged to resortto methodsof psychologicalinfluenceamazingly well adaptedto the circumstancesthey encountered. c) What about a DevelopedCivilization Like Contemporary Society?Naturally, in the conditionsof a society like ours, men do not just fall abruptly into the stateof intellectualand volitional torpor of savages.Sucha fall is impeded by the heritage of centuries wherein the habitual application of the intelligenceand the will and the fecunddevelopmentof the sensibilityin harmonywith the intelligenceand will showedforth. This heritagegave rise to a culture and civilization that, evenin its present decadence and crisis,continuesto produceincreasingly brilliant scientific and technologicaladvances. Of course, we must view this affirmation with prudence.Accordingto Catholic doctrine,original sin introduced inclinations toward irrationality and disorder in men that can lead to the greatestoutrages. Dramatic examplescan be seenin human history. The channelsof common senseand reasoncan overflow beyond all measure,especiallywhen decadenceleadsto apostasyfrom the Faith. Did Solomonnot fall tragically at the very height of his wisdom?When apostasysweeps away not only one man, but a whole peopleor civilization, the fall can carry individuals to much more radical forms of irrationality. In other words, in light of evidenceon the surprising phenomenonof the insensibilityof the soul and the intellect and volitive apathythat affectsvastsectorsof public opinion, we cannot but attribute it to the deterioration of the principleof contradiction,with all that this signifies in the diminution of rationality in human conduct. How did this diminution in the habit of applying the principle of contradiction and the consequentapathy, which canbe likenedto a slow moral suicide,take place? In principle, various pathwayscan be pointed out. We will look at two of the principalonesaroundwhich others can be grouped.
2. L Badical, Philosophical and Seetarian Way Let us beginwith that road which, by its radicality and specificallyphilosophicalcharacter,is the lesstraveled.
This would be the route of a personwho, becauseof a more or less consciousdisorder, rebels against God's createdorder and, full of hatred, beginsto imaginethe possibility of a situation whereingood and evil, truth and error, beautyand uglinesswould ceaseto be incompatible and whereineverythingwould be basedon the notion that things both exist and do not exist at the sametime. Abandoning themselvesto this chimera, certain souls end up believingthat suchan absurdity is possible;thus they (by the imperativeof the very principleof contradiction they denied)finally seeka rational and philosophical justification for this utopia engenderedby their hatred for order and being. Extremeexamplesof this can be seen among the followers of the ancientgnosticsectsand, in our time, among the followersof Easternoccultism.* * More on this matter can be found in the work 1/ mrlo del mondo nuovo: Saggi sui movimenti rivoluzionari del nostro tempo, by the German philosopher Eric Voegelin. See,for example,pages63-67,9l-94, 103, I l2-l 15.About the role of pride as the passion causing this hatred of the order of being, see pages 36-47 and 49.
On the other hand, it is quite obvious that the greater part of the philosophicalcurrents posterior to German philosopherFrederickHegel (1770-1831), among them Marxism, existentialismand so-calledpostmodernism, have sought to escapethe exigencyof the principle of identityand contradiction,leadingsomeinto pantheism and all into relativism. As this study is primarily directedat analyzingfundamentalaspectsof today's Spain,we shall not lingerin the considerationof suchphilosophicalor sectariancurrents.
8.
A More
Common
Generalized
Way
Common experienceshowsthat the principle of contradiction, despiteits particularlyimperativecharacterfor civilizedman, is frequentlyabandoned.First in one point and then another,it graduallybecomesnumbedin almost all its final applications.However,this involvesnot only its arbitrary negationby illicit interestsand selfish convenience,but also numerous casesin which its logical demandsseemto havevanishedfrom souls. To illustrate this problem, we may resort to observations from daily life. Let us see how there is a rapid rveakeningof the principleof contradictiontoday, leading to a gradual decadenceof the primacy of logic and the very capacity to think and desire. a) SomeoneWho Once Loved the Catholic Religion in All Its Splendor. Let us imagine a man who knew and practicedthe Catholic religion in all its traditional
Clarity and Obscarity Surrounding the Principle of Contradiction
splendorduring his childhood, who thus sawand judged mattersfrom the well-orderedand crystallineperspective of the principle of contradiction, but who today looks apatheticallyupon a seriesof the most glaring contradictions. How did this enormousand rapid changetake place? Most probably, it did not begin with mere intellectual misunderstanding.Rather, it suggestsa weaknessof the will which projected a shadowover the intelligenceand a kind of stupor of the sensibility.In other words, at a certainmomentthe person'slove for virtue, religion, the Church and, finally, God Himself beganto diminish. The interior light that once illuminated his admiration for upright and sacredthings was imperceptibly being extinguished. His sensitivity to beauty and attraction to good and truth were diminishing, even though he still theoretically understoodtheir reason for being. He no longer soughtthem as before becausehis will longedfor other things. While still acknowledgingthe existenceof evil and error, he could no longer sharply perceiveall their perverseconsequences. The well-definedopposition between good and evil, truth and error, was disappearing from his soul, rendering him less able to perceivethe presenceof evil and error in their embryonicforms. When calledupon to definehis positions,he would adopt a neutral or indifferent position, slothfully avoidingthe fight. b) The Constellationof Good and Truth That Became Obscure.The firmament of Catholic doctrine must be consideredas a whole. When a man movesaway from sometruth or good, he abandonsan entire constellation of correlativegood and truth. The very firmament of the Faith will becomegraduallyobscuredin his soul. He will, for example,stop admiring Catholic piety and liturgy, or he will no longer feel the tranquil happinessof family life. From one omissionto another, from fall to fall, he will endup seekinghappinessin the morbid frenzyof corruption. He will no longerunderstandthe evil of religious indifference so often latent in forms of astonishingly tolerantecumenism,nor the evil in divorceand temporary unions, eventhough he might remain officially united to his lawful wife. In sucha situation,how couldthis individualhavethe seriousness necessaryto considerthesethemesfrom the point of view of principles? c) The Root of CertaintiesIs Affected. In former times, when one fell into this process,he generallywould not reachthe point of denyingprinciples.Today, however, he will indolently acceptboth indissolublemarriageand divorce-and evenfree love. Everythingis swiftly lost in thehazymistsof subjectivism.Beautyand ugliness,good and evil, error and truth will be found living togetherin confusionin this soul. The principleof contradiction,the
L7
first distinctionbetweenbeingand not-being,the root of certainties,the highestreasonbehind acting and the vigor of judgments, will be profoundly jeopardized. d) Profundity and Rapidi8 of This Processin Our Time. This processoccursin our time with a rapidity and profundity that most men would not have known in the apogeeof Christian civilization. Just as the illumination of a hall can be gradually diminished, so also the lumen rationis (light of reason) is beinggraduallydiminishedin the man in our example. Perhaps he preservesold habits acquired from a coherentconceptionof the universe;he can murmur a quick and distractedprayerbeforean imageof the Blessed Virgin, recalling his mother who was an "oldfashioned" Catholic. The course of his own life, the characteristicsof his temperament,the circles he frequentsand the eventsthat take placearound him are all elementsthat enablehim to still preservemore or less definedideasin other fields. For example,he may favor private property and free enterpriseabove all for practical and functional reasons(suchas increasingproductivity or maintainingpublic liberties).Thesereasonswill undoubtedly be founded not so much on an objective observationof reality as on the generalconsensusof the circles that have prestige in his eyes. His corrosive relativismin face of religiouspracticesand the Christian notion of the family will be such that should he defend privateproperty,he will no longerdo so on the basisof natural law or even the Law of God. It will no longer occur to him to relate the right of property with the Swenth and TenthCommandments,which forbid stealing and covetinghis neighbor'sgoods.Beinganticommunist or antisocialistin principlewill haveso little meaningfor him that he will even support a leftist current if it has moderateand pragmaticaspects.He will apply himself lessand lessto doctrineand the pressingissuesof the day. He will be overcome by an insuperablesloth toward discussingor eventhinking about such mattersand will harbor an antipathytoward the personsor situationsthat could demand this level of considerationfrom him. Thus, the firmnessof a greaterpart of his certainties will be destroyed,and he will not know how to orient his will to seekthe most noble good, whosebeautyhe is no longercapableof sensingand whosevaluehe is incapable of understanding.How can this individual not but run evenfurther after his limited interestsand the pleasures of life? Here the effects exacerbatetheir very causes. Needlessto say, a soul invadedby suchinsensibilityand with numbedintelligenceand weakenedwill is incapable of governing the inferior passions,which, being unrestrained,consequentlyaggravatethe numbnessand weakness.Thus, his indifferencein thinking can only increase.
A Crusadeto Invigorate the Principle of Contradictionln Souls There is no reasonto fear the light of the truth. Let the Spanish peopleshakeoff their dreamyinertia, which is an image of decadenceand death. Let them becomeinterestedand informed; let them analyzeand define, let them dialogueand discuss eventsaround them. Only then can Spain victoriously confront the rapid processthat is draggingit toward its complete dechristianization.
Pius XII already foresaw the this standard, TFP-Covadonga echoes the
Nr|'IT
who, already in
twr,
Clarity and Obscurity Surrounding the Principle of Contradiction
e) A Nation Where This Mental NumbnessIs Generalized.If the humantype describedabovebecomesfrequent and popular in a nation, will not thosesectorsof opinion that still maintain firmer convictionsor integrity in their thinking, becomesubjectto weaknesses, doubts and paralysisin their capacityto judge and react? If it reachesthis extreme,will not the result be an allencompassing and contagiousapathyin faceof the most glaring contradictionsor eventsof public life? Why in times past did the samecausesgenerallynot producethe sameeffects?What is the new elementacceleratingthis processthat bringsabout the deterioration of the intellect and will to the point whereone can speak of the declineof the lumen rationis in innumerablepersonswhom no one could take to be mentallyill? We can only adequatelyattempt a valid responseto thesequestionsby studyingthe historical and ideological evolutionof Spainin recentdecades.We proposeto do this in the next chapter.
L9
r Upon hoisting this standard, TFP-Covadonga echoes the luminous words of Pius XII who, already in 1947, proclaimed: "Now We ask all honorable men: How can mankind recover its health? From the errors and agitations of to'new order' worthy of day's turbulent hour, how can a between friend and if the boundaries this name arise enemy, yes and no, faith and disbelief are erased and removed? "The Church, always full of charity and goodness toward persons led astray, but faithful to the words of 'He who is not Her Divine Founder Who has declared, with me is against me,' cannot fail in Her duty to denounce error" (Pius XlI, Lo Festivitd, 1947 Christmas Radio Message,$$ 14 and l5). On March 26, 1981,in an allocution to university professorsand students, John Paul II spoke the sametruth: "Learn to think, speakand act in accordancewith the principles of evangelicalsimplicity and clarity: 'Yes, yes; no, no.' Learn to call white, white, black, black-evil, evil and good, good. Learn to call sin, sin and not to call it liberation and progress, eventhough fashion and propaganda are opposed to tbis" (Insegnamenti di Giovanni Poolo II, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1981, vol. 4, I,
p. 79r).
fV. A Crusade tu fnvigorate the Principle of Contradiction The cornerstoneof this study-and others-is the doctrine of the principle of contradiction as taught by Saint ThomasAquinas and by the traditional Magisteriumof the Church. We are greatly concernedabout the stateof apathythat has made so many Spaniardsabulic and has swallowed up the bestattemptsat ideologicalclarification like quicksand. This leads us to turn this fight by the TFPCovadongainto a crusadeto invigorate the principle of contradiction. In a 1985 speechduring the inauguration of a new center in Zaragoza,blessedby the bishop emeritus of Vitoria, the Most Rev.FranciscoPeraltaBallabriga,TFPCovadongapresidentJosdFranciscoHerndndezMedina declared: "Bishop Peraltatold us in a conversationsomeweeks ago that many Catholicshaveforgotten that the Church is the sign of contradiction, of the separationbetween good and evil. . . . This is our mission, to convoke all our friends to help us in this great crusadeto invigorate the principle of contradiction, enliventhe senseof all that separatestruth from error, good from evil, beauty from ugliness.It is to give Spain the necessarypsychological meansso that those good who still remain can seethe reality of the evil that uduun..r.rrl0* 10. CovadongaInforma, no. 93, May 1985.
This book proves and analyzesthe deadeningof the principle of contradiction in Spain today and the very graveconsequences ofthis process.It is an invitation to an open and frank debateabout the presentsituation. We consideras absurd the objection of those who say we must avoid all definition and henceall discussionof the greatproblemsthat affect the country in order to prevent new violent conflicts among the diverseideological positions.If this weretrue, onewould be forcedto conclude that the democraticsystemis unviable since one cannot understandan authenticdemocracythat, to survive, would prevent its own diverseideological sectors from speakingout clearly on a given subject.The political platforms and broad reforms basedon ambiguitiesand disinformation are preciselythe measuresthat can provoke unforeseeableexplosions,becausethesemeasures transform societywithout the consciousbacking of the electorate which is the foundation of democratic legitimacy as set out by Spain's Constitution of 1978. On the other hand, it is hypocritical to'proclaim that one seeksto interpret the sentimentsof the peoplewhile remaining indifferent to the fact that fewer Spaniardsare interestedin the great affairs of public life. We neednot fear the light of the truth. Let the people becomeinterestedand informed; Iet them analyzeand. define themselves;let them dialogueand discusswhat is happeningaround them; let them put asidethis dreamlike inertia. This is an essentialpreliminary step in the crusadeto invigoratethe principle of contradiction that TFP-Covadongaproposesto carry out. Only then can the political and ideologicalforces effectively representdistinct and real sectors of public
20
DOCTRINAL ANTECEDENTS
opinion; only then will we know who is who and be able to avoid the exploits of the highJevel political gamethat ultimately leadsto non-thinking, that is, to a vacuum.
The hour is indeedtragic when, to preservethe values of culture and civilization, it is first necessaryto defend even the rational condition of man.
We must not turn back from this duty. SacredScripture showsthis in a passageof the prophet Daniel about the pure soulsof brilliant and strong intelligencewho protect the various nations, imploring on their behalfbeforethe throneof God (seeDan. l0: 13). We hereimplore, then, that the Angel of Spainintercede before the Queenof Heavenand Earth to invigoratethe presentlyfaltering light of the principle of contradiction that shoneso brightly in the most glorious momentsof Spain'shistory.