Publication Date
9-14-2026
Digital Publisher
Digital Commons at St. Mary's University
Description
Bernard Lonergan characterizes the transcendental method as the “concrete and dynamic unfolding” of human knowing (Lonergan, 1997, p. 454). This unfolding involves the operations of experience, understanding, judgment, and decision. The operations describe the structure of human knowing, while the transcendental precepts express the standards by which they should be carried out: “Be attentive, Be intelligent, Be reasonable, and Be responsible” (p. 450). Together, they provide a cognitive framework for examining how students come to understand, make warranted judgments, and act responsibly. Within philosophical hermeneutics, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur describe understanding as an ongoing interpretive process rather than a fixed achievement. Lonergan similarly understands knowing as dynamic, but his distinctive relevance here is his explicit cognitional account of how experience and inquiry develop into insight, warranted judgment, and responsible action. Although he did not formulate a classroom pedagogy, his account can illuminate how learning unfolds in educational contexts.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Collection
San Jose - Lonergan Chair in Catholic Philosophy
Format
Medium
Manuscript
Size
10 pages
City
San Antonio, Texas
Document Type
Article
Included in
Continental Philosophy Commons, Epistemology Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons