(3) "the rational level on which we reflect, marshal the evidence, pass judgment on the truth or falsity, certainty or probability, of a statement";
(4) "the responsible level on which we are concerned with ourselves, our own operations, our goals, and so deliberate about possible courses of action, evaluate them, decide, and carry out our decisions" (Connor, page 45; his italics).
Connor also discusses the four transcendental precepts that Lonergan came to formulate, which he gives along with J. Michael Stebbins' felicitous rephrasings:
(1) Be attentive. Pay attention (pages 247-249);
(2) Be intelligent. Explore intelligently (pages 249-254);
(3) Be reasonable. Judge soundly (pages 254-255);
(4) Be responsible. Decide and act responsibly (pages 255-257).
Now, for the sake of discussion, let's grant that McLuhan may have understood the gist of Lonergan's nuanced argument in Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (1957) about what Lonergan styles as the generalized empirical method of human understanding.
However, let us also grant that McLuhan does not himself use Lonergan's terminology.
Now, armed with these two points, let us return to Graham Majin's central concern about journalism's "search for, and report [about], the truth."
Now, what would happen if we were to try to apply Lonergan's generalized empirical method for the journalists' "search for, and report [about], the truth"?
Yes, Lonergan's generalized empirical method does indeed provide us with a way in which to argue that the search for truth is indeed subject oriented, but without necessarily yielding to mere subjectivism.
But if McLuhan understood the gist of Lonergan's argument in his philosophical masterpiece, shouldn't we expect McLuhan to suggest that the search for truth is indeed subject oriented (that is, oriented to the subject, the human person), but without necessarily yielding to mere subjectivism?
I am here using distinctions that Ong uses in his 1986 book Hopkins, the Self, and God (University of Toronto Press, page 95; but also see pages 83 and 130), the published version of Ong's 1981 Alexander Lectures at the University of Toronto.
I have discussed Lonergan's philosophical masterpiece in my lengthy online article "Walter J. Ong's Philosophical Thought" (dated September 20, 2020):
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
