What Must Be Presupposed?
Purpose / Key Focus
Introduce the idea that all knowing rests on unprovable, starting points defined by teleological unity (e.g. intelligibility, unity, being)
Corresponds to Stage
Unconditioned Source of Purpose
How It Is Ordered
This list follows a teleological and epistemic sequence. Each level presupposes the one upstream. Knowledge is not constructed from the bottom up like a pile of facts—it flows from prior commitments into structured understanding and lived expression.
Epistemic Sequence
Summary Table
| Level | Name | Description | Core Assumption (Upstream Prior) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🜂 1 | Unconditioned Source of Purpose | The ground of all intelligibility, telos and meaning. Final goal and first mover. | All knowing presupposes a given origin that is not derived. Knowing has Conscience. |
| 🜁 2 | Intrinsic Patterning | Reality is structured with discoverable order and purpose. | Meaning is embedded and embodied in things, not projected onto them. |
| 🜃 3 | Participatory Knowing | Understanding arises through engaged relationship. | Knowledge involves presence and transformation. |
| 🜄 4 | Right Discernment | Reason must align with upstream orientation. | Logic is governed by purpose and moral proportion. |
| 🧠 5 | Mental Formation | Perception is filtered through inner habits. | What we notice depends on how we have been shaped. |
| 📊 6 | Empirical Perception | Observations are always interpreted within a frame. | Data presupposes intelligibility, structure, and meaning. |
| 💬 7 | Wisdom-in-Action | Knowledge matures through lived coherence. | Truth is not static—it must be enacted to be fulfilled. |
| 🧬 8 | Inherited Formation | Thought is shaped by memory, tradition, and trust. | We interpret the world through what we have received. |
Related Topics
- 2-Is Reality Structured or Chaotic? - Explores the order and structure that presuppositions assume
- 10-How Do We Return to First Principles? - Teaches how to trace back to these presuppositions
Is_Reality_Structured_or_Chaotic.md