Judgment Lonergan And Logical Positivism

Judgment, Lonergan, and Logical Positivism By Anthony J. Fejfar, B.A., J.D., Esq., Coif © Copyright 2009 by Anthony J. Fejfar In the chapter, “Cognitional Structure,” in the book “Collection,” by Bernard Lonergan, Lonergan argues that we know reality best through the related cognitive operations of: Experience, Understanding, Judgment and Reflection. I have argued that Judgment and Reflection are Intuitive Functions. Nevertheless, for those who do not have well developed Intuition, another approach can be taken using Symbolic Logic. Consider the following Conditional Syllogism: 1. If Experience and Understanding, then Judgment 2. If E and U then J. Thus, if I Experience the Tree and then Understand the Tree, then I Judge that the Tree Exists as a Critical Judgment of Fact. Lonergan calls this a Virtually Unconditioned Judgment of Fact in his book, “Insight.” It is apparent that this approach meets the requirements of Logical Positivism since it involves Logic and Sense Experience.