relationship between philosophy and the special sciences: Philosophy: Discipline of the Disciplines (715 pages), Grand Rapids: Paideia Press, 2009. Main claims There are two main claims that characterise reformational philosophy. Religious roots of philosophical thought Reformational philosophy rejects the view that theoretical thought, including philosophical thought, is autonomous. The view that theoretical thinking is a purely rational activity; has a purely rational ground, or requires no pre-theoretical conditions or commitments for its possibility cannot be sustained. Any attempt to explain theoretical thought without acknowledging non-theoretical factors is destined to fall into irresolvable antinomies. The conclusion of Dooyeweerd’s “transcendental critique of theoretical thought” is that philosophy cannot function without religious-deep presuppositions. His analysis of the influence of religious ground-motives in the history of philosophy – particularly that of nature-freedom in modern humanism (see Dooyeweerd 1997 Vol.1) – is illustrative of this conclusion. Modal theory Reformational philosophy has always been concerned that philosophy be fruitful for the special sciences; the theory of irreducible modal aspects has had the greatest influence in this respect. Although accounts differ, it is customary to distinguish fifteen modal aspects which evince the ways or modes we experience reality. These are: numerical, spatial, kinematic, physical, organic, psychical, logical, historical, linguistic, social, economic, aesthetic, legal, moral and mystical. Each mode expresses itself in all the other modes through analogies within the mode that either "anticipate" later modes or “retrocipate” earlier modes. Any non-reductionist account of reality must acknowledge the particular ways each entity, action or process function within all of the modal aspects or else fall, once again, into antinomies (see Dooyeweerd 1997 Vol.2). References Clouser, Roy The Myth of Religious Neutrality (University of Notre Dame Press, 1991) Dooyeweerd, Herman A New Critique of Theoretical Thought (Edwin Mellen, 1997) Kalsbeek. L Contours of a Christian Philosophy (Wedge Publishing, 1975) Tol, Antony “In memoriam: Dirk Hendrik Theodoor Vollenhoven” Philosophia Reformata 43 (3–4) 1978 pp. 93–100 Zylstra, Bernard “Introduction” in Contours of a Christian Philosophy (Wedge Publishing, 1975) pp. 14–33 Notes External links The Reformational Publishing Project All Of Life Redeemed Dialogue and Antithesis Christian philosophy Western philosophy Calvinism