The Anatomy of Knowledge and the Ontological Necessity of First Principles (Classification of Sciences Project)

This paper in the series explores one of the first principles of metaphysics, the principle of identity in its logical form, namely, the principle of non-contradiction, and the relationship between its metaphysical and logical dimensions. It is invariably the task of revelation to provide definable and recognizable references that can be brought into human understanding. Logic is given the role of providing in us an eternal order reflective of the order of creation, a role that bestows it therefore with a certain sacrality. the Kantian conceptualist contention, now often encountered, establishes the basis for the contemporary de-ontologization of logic, since it creates a split between second intentions and first intentions, ensuring that reality has no input into the workings of the mind. Secondary intelligibles, however, are based on first intelligibles - things that exist - and thus they are ontologically dependent and reflective of that order. The logical thus can never contradict the metaphysical, and the metaphysical can never, in turn, be illogical. This seamlessness between the two orders is critical to the safeguarding of a sound intellectual discourse enabling the human soul to understand its existential condition, a condition that remains the same regardless of time and place