In order to understand Scheler’s concept of ordo amoris the author would like to explain first the background of Scheler’s concept of ordo amoris and elucidate his moral philosophy.
The central idea of Scheler’s value ethics is ordo amoris. It explains and illumines several aspects of his moral philosophy and unifies, in a sense, the whole of his creative thought. “In the ordo amoris we find the coincidence of objectivity and subjectivity, of universality and individuality.”For instance, Scheler says that man has its own hierarchy of values and this order is objective as hearing blind to colors. In order for values to be recognized, it needs subject, which are the bearers of values. The objectivity implies to the different hierarchy of values that man has, based on their cultures, parents, and historicity. While the universal values implies to the objective hierarchy of values. However, this different of hierarchy of values of the individual or the universal values is not at all a difference. Since, Scheler says that there is this genuine order of values or hierarchy of values or the ordo amoris or order of love, which guide all beings to perfection. Therefore, man cannot say that he/she has his/her own order of values that is opposite to the right order of values. It means if man imposes his/her own ordo amoris, which is opposite to the right order of values, there would be a chaotic institution, relationships, and divisions. Since the strong persons could easily dominate those who are weak persons. In other way, the disordered ordo amoris would lead man to evil actions or simply negative emotions that would affect other person’s feelings. Like for instance, the Germans imposed their own value system and they extremely believed that the Jewish people were sinners since they persecuted Christ until death. That is why the Germans killed and burned millions of Jewish people. The Germans believed that killing is the right and the highest value to do. But this concept was totally wrong. Not all the Jewish people did such thing to Jesus Christ. That is why the Germans committed a big mistake to impose their own value system to the Jewish people without realizing that they already had reduced the dignity of others. Instead, of preserving the life of others, what the Germans did is annihilation. Therefore, this ordo amoris of Scheler is the very core of man’s personality that leads man to moral way and it implies to the individual and to the universal values of man.
“The ordo amoris elucidates the objective moral order as well as man’s knowledge and pursuit of values.” This means that Scheler gives emphasis and clarification on the hierarchy of values since it is the objective right order of values that guides man to obtain perfection. This objective order of values could be realized only in man’s pursuit of values base on the historicity of an individual or collective groups. “It also explains the falsifications of the order of values, for such falsifications mean precisely a confusion or distortion of the ordo amoris.” This means that ordo amoris help man to clarify and reform the right value system that was distorted by man. In short, it clarifies and restores the distorted ordo amoris as Scheler affirms that this order of love is the driving force of man towards perfection. Scheler’s assertion confirms the idea that the core or foundation of one’s becoming that bears the perfection of all being is the ordo amoris.
B. Heart as the Fundamental Foundation of Ordo Amoris
Scheler’s idea of ordo amoris leads to the understanding that it is the means and way to understand the individual and this universal value of man will lead him/her to obtain perfection. It gives man the hint to understand the difference between the universal values and the individual values because man is created uniquely from each other and they have their own individuality that is formed from their own historicity. Before, we can fully understand Scheler’s two fundamental meaning of ordo amoris, we must become aware on how he arrives and understands the normative and descriptive ordo amoris base on his “Selected Philosophical Essays.” As he says;
I find myself in an immeasurably vast world of sensible and spiritual objects, which set my heart and passions in constant motion. I know that the objects I can recognize through perception and thought, as well as all that I will, choose, do, perform and accomplish, depend on the play of this movement of my heart. It follows that any sort of rightness or falseness and perversity in my life and activity are determined by whether there is no objectively correct order of these stirrings of my love and hate, my inclinations and disinclination, my many sided interest in the things of this world. It depends further on whether I can impress this ordo amoris on my inner moral tenor.
Scheler emphasizes that ordo amoris is the guide of man to arrive to his perfection. Scheler believes that ordo amoris is residing in the heart of man. That is why wherever man goes and whatever he/she does, it will lead him/her towards the perfection through the authentic ordo amoris inherent in man’s heart. Therefore, man’s heart is very significant in man’s becoming towards perfection. Man’s heart, is the abode of the ordo amoris and man himself/herself can understand and recognize what kind of person he/she is. For instance, the famous saying that says; “tell me who are your friends and I tell you who you are.” Though this example is not really accurate to the whole sphere of man’s personality but still it corresponds to the whole realm in understanding the ordo amoris of man. For instance, in the seminary seminarians may have different personalities and vices. Base on the author’s observation these vices are embodied by different individuals and groups based on their desire for self satisfaction but not all seminarians, may have the same vices. There are some seminarians who are drunkard but do not smoke. That is why the writer believes on the saying that “you cannot judge a book by its cover only.” Thus, man cannot simply judge others values through mere appearance only. This example implies that not all-external manifestation of the other individual mirrors his/her true personality. For instance, Jic is a seminarian and he drinks, we cannot say that all seminarians are drunkard. Thus, there still is something, which is the most important way to understand the ordo amoris of man and that is love to be discussed later. Before that let us see some ideas and understanding about love. For instance, love according to the famous saying in the little prince; “what is essential is invisible to the eyes.” This means that man’s empirical cognition could not see and recognize love. Man could only understand and recognize love by moving towards higher values and doing good for the beloved.
Scheler further explains on how to arrive the notion of the normative and descriptive ordo amoris. As he says:
Whether I am investigating the innermost essence of an individual, a historical era, a family, a people, a nation, or any other sociohistorical group, I know and understand it most profoundly when I have discerned the system of its concrete value-assessments and value-preference, whatever organization this system has. I call this system the ethos of any such subject. The fundamental root of this ethos is, first, the order of love and hate, the organization of these two dominant and predominating passions, within a social class which always has a hand in directing the way the subject sees his world as well as his deeds and activities.
The example above means that only in the historicity of man that he/ she will be able to form his/her ordo amoris. For instance, a seminarian and a nursing student are individuals who carry within themselves two different lifestyles. They have their own value system and perspective in life. Like for instance, the academic lifestyles of the nursing student for sure is distinguished from the seminarian for he/she studies nursing concepts while a seminarian study philosophy. That is why they have their own way of ordering the hierarchy of values for the fact that they have different perspective in life. From this example, we can also recognize the different ordo amoris of man. Through their historicity or the background of their becoming towards their fullness and we can also perceived that through their continuous movement towards their fullness they may able to discover the right order of values.
Scheler says, “normative ordo amoris signifies the objective right order of love or the ordered counterpart of the hierarchy of values reflected in the heart of man.” It is objective since it cannot simply be seen by empirical cognition. For instance, a man falls in love to a woman. We cannot see love but through the disinterested giving of oneself we can be able to recognize that he/she is in love. That is why values reflected in the heart of man because through the emotive experience of man values are revealed. In addition, normative ordo amoris exists objectively in the heart of man. It means that it is the heart, which is the basis of man’s becoming towards its fullness. It is the heart of man, which form the order of values. Since only in man’s heart movements that they may able to recognize the right order of values. Therefore, the author could say that normative ordo amoris serve as the replica of man’s becoming towards perfection. Since whatever man’s attainment of perfection the heart is the fundamental basis of their fulfillment. It is the heart that constructs the genuine hierarchy of values in man’s becoming towards perfection. As what Scheler says, “where his heart is attached, there, for him, is the core of the so called essence of things.” Whatever he/she does and wherever he/she goes the hierarchy of values is always in his/her inner self, it reside in man’s heart. That is why man’s heart is the fundamental foundation of ordo amoris. As what Scheler claims;
The human heart is the seat of the ordo amoris and thus, so to speak, a microcosm of the whole objective world of values. The heart of man is not chaos of blind emotional states but an ordered counterpart of the world of values. The heart of the morally good man is already basically in accord with the objective hierarchy of values. The emotive dimension of man is in-formed by the ordo amoris. The human heart…. a subjective sounding board of the objective order of values.
C. Emotive Feeling
In order for man to recognize values, Scheler gives emphasis on feeling. As Scheler, affirms that.
Just as color’s can only be given to us in seeing them, so also values are given to us only in the feeling of them. Without seeing there are no colors. Without feeling there are no values. The priority of feelings over thinking and willing, for that matter, is one of order, not one of sequence.
This means therefore that values should be realized only through there “functional existence.” Values must go through into a function with something in order for them to be.
A color….does not exist unless it is spread out in a surface. It exists in function with a surface that we see… the color green….is given to us only seeing it on the surface. Green is accessible only in visual perception. One cannot hear the color green. The color green that is seen…does not compel us to think that the surface itself has the inherent property of being green. The surface will also turn red or any other color on certain conditions.
This functional existence will lead man to know and realized values through their emotive experiences. Through our feelings the objective values that reside in man’s heart is revealed since feelings serve as the bridge of the objective values to be revealed and to come out in reality. On the other hand, this functional existence of values is a concrete idea that there is a creator of all living and nonliving beings in this world. Through the creation of all things and objects man realized that there is the cause of everything. Without creation in the world there is no knowledge of the creator. But the existence of the creator is already there, since he is the creator supreme of all living and non-living beings. He has a priori form of existence just like values, which exist independently, but it requires objects and things in order to be recognized.
According to Scheler values are a type of object entirely inaccessible to reason. As he, quoted and analyzed Pascal’s famous saying. “The heart has its own reason, which reason does not know.”
There is a type of experiencing whose object is completely inaccessible to reason; reason is as blind to them as ears and hearing blind to colors. It is a kind of experience that leads us to genuinely objective objects and the eternal order among them i.e., to values and the order of ranks among them.
Scheler wants to emphasize here that there is really objects that reason and empirical cognition have no access to understand the meaning of something, which is values, and the order of ranks among them. Man could only recognize values and order through their emotive experiences of value feeling, preferences, love, and hate. Man’s emotive experience is the basis and the fundamental structure of the whole realm of values in order for them to attain. Scheler gives emphasis on man’s “intentional feeling of something” as the first process to attain the whole realm of values.
Intentional feeling is different from feeling states since feeling states are only arbitrarily related to objects. This means that feeling states is related to objects. For example, the person feels pain when the doctor pulls out his/her teeth. From this example we can see that there are always objects that cause the person to feel pain. As what mentioned above that through the act of pulling out the person’s teeth causes him/her experience pain as feeling states. Therefore, only in man’s intentional feeling of something that objective hierarchy of values is revealed and recognizable. Intentional feeling of something is a process in which there is a relation and direction of intention toward objective purposes, which are values. For instance, a martyr intentionally accepts and endures the torture from the persecutor. This example implies that the intentional feeling of the martyr is not feeling states since feeling states are those sensible feelings such as the person feeling the pain when doctor pulled out the teeth. However, any one can also feel different suffering as feeling state. That is why man’s intentional feeling of something is the appropriate use to recognize and realized values. Through the experience of intentional feeling of the person the objective values is manifested as what the example before tells about.
The second aspect of man’s emotive life is preferring and placing values. From this aspect of man’s emotive life we may able to see the different valuation of values in man’s dynamic movement towards perfection, since values have a hierarchical relationship and order of values. If values have a hierarchical relationship and order of ranks, man’s emotive experience of preferring and rejecting values is a way to understand the hierarchy of values. Scheler says that preferring and placing values means “leaning toward” something.
It is prior to willing and feeling something in particular…we first feel the value of a thing and then realize its value rationally, in leaning toward something we do not really feel the value yet we are leaning toward…preferring a value over another value comes to us first,…our emotive consciousness grasps a thing-value by means of the value-ception of a thing,…preferring a value to lower value draws us initially toward the preferred value.
This means therefore that objective hierarchy of values is revealed in man through their inclination and disinclination of something. For instance, a seminarian devotes himself in studying rather than watching movies. From this example, we can detect the emotive feelings of the person. Through preferring the higher value rather than the lower value, which is better, since he realizes that the value itself that he preferred is for his own growth. In other way, the seminarian chooses between the alternative actions but he prefer the higher value rather the lower value. Therefore, through man’s inclination and disinclination of values the genuine structure of values is revealed. Therefore, man’s emotive experiences of preferring and rejecting values entails that there is good and evil. Good must always be the fundamental basis of the highest values while evil is the lowest level of values. That is why genuine hierarchy of values is the guide of man’s becoming towards perfection.
The highest rank of man’s intentional emotive life is love and hate. In love and hate we can see and realize that man has different ways of feeling in values through the movement of man’s heart. This means that man’s emotive life is the foundation of man’s becoming of what they become to be. Just like love and hate which stand as the guide of intentional feeling and preferring values. Since, it is the heart of man, which is the abode of man’s emotive life that enables man to recognize values. Thus, whatever man’s movement and actions in her/his becoming perfect it will always depend on the movement of man’s heart. Furthermore, intentional feeling and preferring values is not the same as love and hate.
For Scheler love is an act that opens our hearts to a wider and truer vision of the full hierarchy of values. Love does not simply see values or their proper ranking in the hierarchy of values, but is an act that enables us to see positive, higher and lower values. Hatred is the opposite, for it destroys our ability to see positive, higher values.
It mean that, love is not a mere response to values already known, but rather it discovers new values and thus precedes value feeling. If man loves certainly it would help and give him/her to deeper visions of values. As he asserts that;
Love…plays the role of a discoverer in our perception of values. Love is a movement in the course of which new and higher values flash forth and reveal themselves, i.e. values hitherto unknown to this person. Hence, love does not follow after value feeling or value-preference, but precedes them as their pioneer and leader.
This statement implies that love is supreme or has primacy over knowledge. That is why Scheler maintains his point of view that love dominates over knowledge in the field of ethics as well as in the philosophy of religion. He elucidates his idea of the primacy of love over knowledge in man’s cognitive approach of God. The primacy of love over knowledge in our cognitive approach to God signifies that genuine knowledge of God always presupposes a threefold love, a loving self-disclosure of God, man’s loving response to him and man’s love for his fellow human beings.
It is in the nature of a personal God that knowledge of his existence is only possible by grace of this fundamental act of self-disclosure…It is in love of the divine and holy, a love which has to move towards its goal before it recognizes itself as the response to a pre-existent love directed toward the loving soul, that God has located, in the final analysis, that mysterious driving wheel which sets in motion all our cognitive knowledge of him as a person.
However, this loving encounter does not mean that it already sums up and leads to the genuine knowledge of God. The principle of the primacy of love over knowledge means also that “love for God as a condition of knowing him necessarily implies love for ones brothers.” Thus, there can be no true knowledge of God without man’s preceding turning in love to his fellow human being.
This means, therefore, that love is a dynamic movement in which man discovers new and higher values that helps man to go out of his/her self-centeredness. Man has its own unique value; through man’s love, it enhances the beloved to discover more the vastness of man’s value. That is why through man’s participating and sharing of love they were able to recognized and understand what love is. Love is an act where man abandons oneself in order to participate and share with other people. Thus if man shares his love to another, they are not anymore different from one another for they are in love. For instance, a lover does not just love on the beauty of the beloved but he/she must go beyond the criteria of the physical appearance. Since love is not a feeling and love does not stop so the lover and the beloved should continue enhancing and discovering new values of each other until they get old and even until death. So it means therefore that the lover should not love his/her beloved for only one day, two weeks, one month and the next month no more. It should be for everlasting love. That is why in the ceremonial rites of the couple it says, “tell death do us part.” Moreover, loves is not conditional or change the beloved for instance, the beloved demand his/her lover that he/she should not talk to other guys or ladies except to her/him otherwise he/she will not love him/her. Instead, true love is that let the lover accept the beloved as what he/she is. As what Scheler says,
The person is always a task, and the task to be fulfilled is the creative self-actualization of the personal being in loving dialogue with other persons. Love is concerned with the other person’s fullness of being. This includes the ideal dimension of his personality, or the inner dynamism that is operative in his very being and impels him toward his own full self-realization. Our love for another person turns to the totality of his being, both actual and potential. By encouraging one’s partner to move beyond the empirical being toward the ideal level we do not intend to tell him “you should do this or that” but we simply express the idea become what you are.
However, this does not mean that reason cannot inform for emotional feelings of man. Scheler says it only means that reason itself lacks any direct, original access to value and, therefore cannot speak knowingly of values in the first person. Scheler affirms that;
Values are apprehended neither sensibly nor rationality. They belong to an order of their own with the logic of the intellect. Values belong to an affective order-an ordo amoris and are revealed to us through emotive experiences of value-feeling, preferences, love and hate.
On the other hand, the meaning is not normative in the sense that this order is itself a sum of norms, for in that case it could be laid down only by some will, whether the will of a man or of God, but not known in an evidential way.” This means that objective right order of love or the counterpart of the hierarchy of values order is not formed and willed by God. As Scheler cites the idea of love in the Gospels;
In his meeting with Mary Magdalene, Jesus did not tell her “you must sin no more; promise me this, and I shall love and forgive your sins. Rather, Jesus first gave her a sign of his love and forgiveness of sins and then told her to go and sin no more.
Thus, normative ordo amoris as a sphere of the whole realm of ordo amoris serve as the idea that God did not impose his own ordo amoris in man. God allows man to form their own ordo amoris and to attain and realize their own way of becoming towards perfection. However, man’s dynamic movement towards perfection should always be for the common good of others, which is the objective right order of love or the hierarchy of values.
Scheler says “we can have this knowledge of the ranking of everything, which is possibly worthy of love in things, in accordance with their inner values.” This means that man can only understand the order of values when he/she is give importance and followed the right order of values.
“Descriptive ordo amoris means the system of actual valuations and value-preference operative in an individual man’s life.” This means that descriptive ordo amoris is the structure of man’s moral way of becoming towards perfection. We can see this in man’s background, historicity, gestures, cultures, and spiritual accomplishment. Like for instance, a good priest is an exemplar of a moral person who is dedicated in ministering his people for the glory of God. Through this example of a priest, we can see the kind of value he has and structure of his becoming towards perfection.
TO BE CONTINUED…….
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