Circulation of Thought

Collected works of ERH	ERH in English	ERH Lectures
Books about ERH	ERH in German	ERH in other languages

There are several lecture series with this title, and they have common themes. Circulation of Thought is a description of the way thought moves over time. Another word Rosenstock-Huessy uses for the process of thought and inspiration moving between generations is "spirit." Speech among men is a form in which this appears.

Rosenstock-Huessy accepts the division of reality into logos (the word of God), physis (nature), and ethos (relationships among people). According to the Scholastics, the three areas differ in the position of their subject matter with respect to truth: Does the truth precede the subject matter, does truth follow the subject matter, or is truth within the subject matter? The three areas of reality are researched by three types of disciplines. Logos is the subject of theology, physis that of natural science, and ethos that of ethics or social sciences. The method used to study each discipline is a result of its relationship to truth. Established and successful methods exist for theology and the natural sciences. The social sciences, however, although occupying their own relationship to truth, to date have only mimicked the research methodology of the natural sciences. They need their own method, one that reflects that their truth shifts as a result of what people in the societies are doing.

Circulation of Thought outlines some of the foundations on which Rosenstock-Huessy bases his suggested method for the study of the third area of reality, the social sciences.

There are three lecture series available. To find out more about each lecture series, follow these links: