A Rough Table of Concordance between Herman Dooyeweerd's
De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee and
A New Critique of Theoretical Thought

Dooyeweerd's A New Critique of Theoretical Thought ['NC'] is not just a translation of his earlier De Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee ['WdW']. A concordance therefore cannot merely point to the equivalent page in the English translation. It is necessary to read and to compare the texts.

• 1. There are parts of the WdW that were never translated. For example, the comparison to King Midas.

• 2. There are parts that were added in the NC that do not appear in the original WdW.

• 3. The NC sometimes mistranslates the WdW. For example, the NC does not sufficiently distinguish between the supratemporal selfhood or I-ness, and the temporal ego. The translation problems are not surprising since there were different translators involved for each of the three volumes. William Young only worked on Volume I. Irving Hexham has advised me that he spoke to Young about this, and Young said that he was unhappy how the mystical nature of Dooyeweerd's philosophy was not coming through in the translation. De Jongste assisted in translating Volume II. And Dooyeweerd himself, still unhappy with the way that translation was going, did much of the translation himself for Volume III.

• 4. The NC sometimes revises the WdW even where the pages otherwise correspond. Those references in brackets indicate substantial revisions, although revisions also occur on other pages.

Despite the many differences between the two works, I am surprised at the consistency of Dooyeweerd's thought. The NC expands on the earlier work, but does not fundamentally change his ideas. Those who say that the WdW does not contain a transcendental critique are clearly wrong. The idea is already in the WdW, but the method is expanded or "sharpened" in the NC. And although the NC adds much concerning the idea of cosmic time, the idea of the supratemporal selfhood is already a key idea in the WdW. The NC also adds other information concerning contemporary philosophers.

Because of translation problems in the NC, and some omissions from the original, the WdW is essential for understanding some of Dooyeweerd's ideas. It is also essential in helping us to compare Dooyeweerd's ideas with the sources that he used.