Core Ideas

Table of Contents

  1. Philosophy as Integral Systematics
  2. I. Methodical Reflection Theory
  3. II. Social Philosophy
  4. III. Philosophical Semiotics
  5. IV. Philosophical Theory of History
  6. V. Integral Anthropology/Psychology
  7. VI. Practical Philosophy
  8. VII. Philosophy as a Way of Life

Philosophy as

  • integral systematics
  • science of meaning
  • art of concepts
  • reconstruction of the experienced (dialogue between concept and experience)
  • reflection theory of praxis (theoretical reflection of lived reflection)
  • foundational discipline of the humanities

Johannes Heinrichs is among the few academic philosophers who assume that philosophy as an integral systematic discipline of the humanities and its step-by-step construction from basic conceptual elements are both possible and urgent today. This naturally includes reference to what has been thought before, similar to how an artist is inspired by earlier creations. However, an artist who only quotes earlier creations and "critically" imitates them is rightly called an epigone. We live in a time when Western philosophy has become at least 90% its own historiography and thus actually philology of earlier philosophical works.

I. Methodical Reflection Theory: theoretical consideration of ontological (lived) reflection relationships

Heinrichs views philosophy as a whole as the "art of concepts" and within this as the progressive, methodical self-unfolding of human reflective capacity. Reflection is much more comprehensive than theoretical-retrospective reflection. While the latter represents the form of philosophical thinking, this form of retrospective-theoretical reflection (thinking back) refers to content that consists not only of non-reflective objects, but largely also of lived self-relatedness (lived reflection).

The general, universal-scientific form of the method allows us to distinguish four levels of reflection, whose internal and cross-level differentiation continues constantly. The following names the four methodical reflection stages along with their colloquial designation. The formal-methodical, content-free, logical status of these stages should by no means be confused with substantive faith statements.

  1. Evidence: the datum to be experienced and considered, as starting point
  2. theoretical reflection: the conceptual analysis or reconstruction of the experienced (today primarily scientific)
  3. Essence: the structural being, the essential arising from reflection
  4. Existence: the full reality and reconfirmation of the (intuitively or immediately) experienced, enriched through theoretical mediation

These four reflection stages determine not only empirical sciences, structural sciences and philosophy in different degrees. Rather, it is possible to measure and understand the history of philosophy itself by this standard, to what extent historical philosophies were respectively more evidence-oriented, reflection-oriented, essence-oriented or existence-oriented. The sequence of stages thus serves not only as a recurring methodical principle (a four-stage expanded "hermeneutical circle"), but also as a principle of classification. By virtue of this classification principle, a systematic division of philosophical disciplines can be undertaken today. The innermost core of philosophy consists in theoretically reflecting on the various lived human self-relationships.

The most basic form of lived reflection is found in meaning-oriented action, which thereby differs from merely causal behavior. The methodical reflection theory, which can be found unfolding in Johannes Heinrichs' work since his earliest publication, is therefore not a pure methodology of the sciences, but a methodical approach to philosophy as reflection theory of lived forms of reflection, whose unity constitutes human spiritual capacity.

II. Social Philosophy

After Heinrichs recognized in 1975 the dialogical relationship between people as a reflection relationship with a limited sequence of 4 stages (which amounts to the discovery of a social scientific constant), the reflection system theory of the social developed from this, a comprehensive social theory.

The key point of this theory is that the four different subsystems of the entire society have their root in the communication system or in the dialogical basic structure, its quadruplicity/fourfoldness.

Communicative action realizes itself on four stages, the deepest of which represents mutual personal understanding (a kind of communicative existence), which is mediated through the other three stages:

  1. The communication of material facts (direct or communicative evidence)
  2. The articulation of one's own understanding (communicative reflection)
  3. The actual entering into the situation of my partner (communicative essence)

Similarly, in the macrosociological/political dimension, four subsystems of society are recognizable, which appear stratified according to structural parallels or "homologies":

  1. The economic system: social evidence as provision of the material foundations of human existence; exchange of goods and services
  2. The political system: political public sphere; will formation for collective action; social reflection on what is given (from 1.)
  3. The cultural system: social essence; production of meaning and value determinations (education, science, art, entertainment)
  4. The basic values or legitimacy system: worldviews, religions and moral concepts; social existence; reconfirmation of the ultimate justification instances

Kant's outline of articulated reason deals with an individual philosophy, which only has the reflection system of the individual in view. The fourfold division of the social deals with a collective-plural system reference, more precisely a system of systems. The system differentiation consists in the fact that in the actually differentiated large systems of society each time a particular meaning aspect functions as the leading distinction, while the other meaningful partial aspects remain subordinated.

The political system is the one which most clearly maps the entire four-part reflection structure within itself. The usual tripartition of state powers is here expanded by the fourth power of the media – though not so that the factually influential media are declared the fourth state power, but rather that a media control power composed of delegates from the three other powers is established.

The four systemic aspects of social communication come to light everywhere in social life. Everywhere the four-part structure of reflection appears, or of the various systemically comprehensive ways of acting, which together constitute humans as social beings connecting nature and culture.

The political consequence for a fully developed democracy (not just narrowed to economy or politics) consists at the European and ultimately global level in a fourfold parliament or a value-stage democracy, which is to be supplemented by direct-democratic voting procedures following the Swiss model.

  1. An economic parliament that regulates economic matters
  2. The classic political parliament in the narrower sense, which makes the necessary decisions for securing basic rights and social order
  3. A cultural parliament for promoting and supporting science, education and art
  4. A basic values parliament that conducts dialogue between religions and worldviews, sets tolerance limits (for sects and the like) and develops proposals for society's target values

III. Philosophical Semiotics: the systematic sequence of Action - Language - Art - Mysticism

Heinrichs consistently distinguishes the collective-social perspective (also called collective "system reference" with Luhmann) methodically strictly from the individual system reference of the individual actor. The four reflection and thus system levels of both perspectives are similar (homologous), but not identical.

The knowledge-guiding interest of his philosophical semiotics is less to add another general sign definition to the 99 already existing ones than rather to create a practical semiotics of the various human forms of action. The human sign systems are determined as lived human communication or reflection types. It is not about conventional sign systems that function as language substitutes (Morse system, flag signals, traffic signs, etc.), but about the philosophically relevant, essential sign and meaning forms.

Meaningful action (1) as such is the most elementary semiosis, a processual operating with signs and meanings, foreign and self-references. Heinrichs has laid this out since his major work "Action" (from 2007), more recently then in the first volume of semiotics "The Goal-directedness of Action. A Theory of Action from Recognized Essence" (2010). An essential point here is the teleological dimension: The teleological cause (final cause) known since Aristotle and forgotten with modernity is rehabilitated as well as Kant's core discipline of theoretical reason, the categories, reconstructed as a four-stage structure of action categories. In human action (in practice as in art) a goal form (ought) is anticipated, without the achieved result ever completely reaching the anticipated goal form. Action is full subject-object unity, while physically measurable causality represents only a partial cause.

From linguistics (2) we know the tripartition of semiotic dimensions according to Morris into sigmatics (syntactics), semantics and pragmatics. Heinrichs' own language analyses have shown that here we must distinguish yet a fourth dimension, that of textual context (in the broadest sense, linguistic synsemantics). Thus it is also in language a fourfold sign process (levels of semiotic reflexivity).

Language semiotics consists of a sequence of stages:

  • Sigmatics: the level of signal forms (corresponds to communicative or action evidence)
  • Semantics: the level of meanings (corresponds to reflection as representation)
  • Pragmatics: the level of action embedding of speaking (corresponds to practically realized essence, essentiality)
  • Synsemantics: the level of meaningful textual wholeness (corresponds to full contentual existence)

Art (3), a language game without direct language, is the imaginative-fictive action that is lifted out of the real action context. Here it is always first about sigmatic structuring of the imagination. Thereby the form as such is more important than contentual references. Moreover, the purposelessness of the aesthetic plays a role in relation to reality-related action. Art is play, more precisely the superordinate, inclusive generic concept to the ordinary concept of play. As pure games today only the forms of abstract art count - and ordinary children's games.

Mysticism (4) is understood philosophically-semiotically as "action in pure attitude." The attitude stands in the background in other human forms of action, but comes to the foreground of consciousness in religion as a special sign action. Religion (with its experiential crowning, mysticism) is thus the fourth and last sign form compared to the preceding ones. Only in religion does a (ritual or mystically immediate) referring back (religio) to the all-encompassing being occur, hence to the depth dimension of reality usually designated as divine. Heinrichs' religious-philosophical thesis on this is that the relationship to God does not first arise through special revelation, but is grounded in the reflexive structure of the human person.

The four semiotic meaning stages, which have gradually differentiated themselves in the modern language game as such, follow the abstract stage law of reflexive mediation, which comes into play everywhere in spiritual reality.

IV. Philosophical Theory of History: the staging of history in meaning-periods

The main thesis in Heinrichs' philosophy of history investigation "History as Meaning-History. On Basic Features of a Transcendental Philosophy of History" (Steno, Munich 2013, 386 pp.) states that human history and particularly the documented cultural history of the last 3000-6000 years can be divided into meaningful time segments with their own meaning-dominants. This means nothing less than the establishment of meaning-periods that are immanently recognizable as such and not merely postulated from outside. The train of thought leads step by step to the introduction of a meaning-periodicity which opens possibilities for prognosis.

It is assumed that Christian chronology represents an outstanding event-point in the human calendar at the middle of times (which is confirmed, for example, by Hölderlin's historical parable). The main question is: Is there a structural inner calendar that supplements the natural-cosmic calendars (solar year, lunar year, stellar calendar) because it is grounded in the meaning-periods of history?

The philosophy of history answer is: There is a structural calendar of 2800 years (cultural history) or 700 years (with quartering into phases of 175 years), 175 years (with phases of 49 years) and 49 years (with phases of 12 years). These cycles must prove themselves in the contentually qualified history since the "turn of times." The cultural-historical main cycle becomes comprehensible if one introduces with Hegel a succession of 4 different cultural principles: from the oriental via the Greek-Roman and the Christian-occidental-Islamic to the enlightened-modern culture. Modern culture reflexively-consciously completes what already occurred in essence in the other historical cultures: world culture or at least intercultural tolerance.

V. Integral Anthropology/Psychology

Heinrichs' philosophy of science method is not a mere epistemology, but it has the reflection-theoretical background of full life practice. This becomes particularly clear in the philosophically grounded psycho-anthropology, which as structural theory provides a general frame of reference for the various psychological schools.

The 2018 two-volume major work "Critique of Integral Reason. A Philosophical Psychology" systematically develops the structures of human consciousness and the unconscious. Volume I treats the "Grammar of Consciousness Functions," Volume II a "Map of the Unconscious."

The innovative potential lies in the systematic derivation of psychic structures from the reflection principle. Heinrichs shows how the four reflection stages manifest themselves in various psychic areas:

  • In the consciousness functions: perception, thinking, feeling, willing
  • In the developmental stages: various maturation phases of humans
  • In the personality types: different dominances of the four basic functions
  • In the structure of the unconscious: four layers with different functions

This integral perspective overcomes the one-sidednesses of the various psychological schools and offers a comprehensive theoretical framework for the human sciences.

VI. Practical Philosophy: Ethics and Politics

The practical consequences of reflection philosophy show themselves particularly in Heinrichs' theory of democracy. The already mentioned value-stage democracy is not just a thought experiment, but an elaborated constitutional model with concrete implementation proposals.

The basic idea: Corresponding to the four social subsystems, there are four equal parliaments. This structure prevents the mixing of extraneous interests (such as when economic interests dominate cultural policy) and enables appropriate representation of all areas of society.

Further reform proposals concern:

  • The introduction of direct-democratic elements following the Swiss model
  • A fundamental reform of the monetary system
  • The separation of state and church while simultaneously recognizing the spiritual dimension in the basic values parliament
  • A new educational system that promotes the holistic development of humans

These proposals are not utopian dreams, but reform concepts systematically derived from reflection theory and practically thought through.

VII. Philosophy as a Way of Life

Heinrichs' philosophical system is more than an academic theory - it is the expression of a way of life. "Lived reflection" means that philosophical insights are not only thought, but realized in personal existence.

This is also shown in Heinrichs' own life path: The departure from the Jesuit order was not a rejection of spirituality, but the consequence of the insight that true spirituality must not remain trapped in dogmatic structures. The decades-long work on a comprehensive philosophical system was carried by the conviction that philosophy today must again be systematic and relevant to life practice.

Reflection philosophy is thus:

  • A method of systematic thinking
  • A theory of human reality
  • A practice of conscious life design
  • A way to spiritual self-realization

In this unity of theory and practice, of systematics and life reference, lies the special significance of Heinrichs' philosophy for our time.