Heller M, Woodin W.H. (eds.) Infinity. New research frontiers (CUP, 2011)(ISBN 1107003873)(O)(327s)_MAml_

44 infinity as a transformative concept in science and theologyimmortality. 120 It is clear that this deep emotional involvement with the infinite defies,at first glance, any possibility of rational conceptualization. It is an expression of agenuine, original, and transformative religious experience, which transcends the antinomiesthat derive from a rational account of infinity, as it is described in the Critique ofPure Reason by Immanuel Kant. In this sense, infinity is for Schleiermacher a qualitativereligious entity, and it transcends the quantitative limitations of space and time, towhich the antinomies of infinity in the Kantian sense were due. Thus, with Anschauungand Gefühl he identifies aspects of the religious Self. However, it is interesting to notethat Schleiermacher tried to conceptualize this new kind of religious experience withthe idea of a mutual entanglement of the finite and the infinite. In this way he wasattempting to overcome what he thought of as a false dichotomization, although thisattempt did not lead him to a clear-cut concept. 121One year after his Reden, in 1800, the religious evaluation of infinity became a newtwist in his Monologen. Having realized the indwelling of infinity in finiteness alreadyin the Reden as a new idea, he offers – perhaps even unaware – in the Monologena solution that proved to be very important for his whole scientific life as a theologian.The Monologen expose the transformation of infinity as a matter of intuition(Anschauung) and sentiment (Gefühl) to a matter of action and self-education or selfcultivation(Bildung 122 ), an iterative, open process of self-organization. 123 Therefore,infinite processes in all contexts, such as hermeneutics, theory of science, developmentof the religious consciousness, and even mathematics, became increasingly importantfor Schleiermacher’s scientific thinking. 124 There is evidence of Schleiermacher’s early120 “Die Unsterblichkeit darf kein Wunsch sein, wenn sie nicht erst eine Aufgabe gewesen ist, die Ihr gelösthabt. Mitten in der Endlichkeit eins werden mit dem Unendlichen und ewig sein in einem Augenblick, dasist die Unsterblichkeit der Religion” [Immortality must not be a desire, if it has not been a task, which youhave solved. In the middle of finiteness to become one with infinity and being eternal in one moment, that isimmortality of religion] (Schleiermacher 1967, p. 99).121 Schleiermacher thinks of finite entities as mirroring infinity, as a “picture of infinity”: “Alles was ist, ist für sie(=die Religion) notwendig, und alles was sein kann, ist ihr ein wahres, unentbehrliches Bild des Unendlichen;wer nur den Punkt findet, woraus seine Beziehung auf dasselbe sich entdecken läßt” [Everything, that is,is necessary for it (=for religion), and everything, which can be, is for it a real and indispensable pictureof infinity; whoever finds the point, from which his relation to infinity can be discovered] (Schleiermacher1967, pp. 58–59). “Freilich ist es eine Täuschung, das Unendliche grade außerhalb des Endlichen, dasEntgegengesetzte außerhalb dessen zu suchen, dem es entgegengesetzt wird" [Sure enough it is a deception,to seek the infinite outside finiteness, the opposition (=Entgegensetzung) beyond that to which it is opposed](Schleiermacher 1967, p. 107).122 The German notion “Bildung” can hardly be translated. It is much more than education. It includes elementssuch as emotion, esprit, culture, self-control, discipline, and knowledge.123 “Unendlich ist was ich erkennen und besitzen will, und nur in einer unendlichen Reihe des Handelns kann ichmich selbst ganz bestimmen. Von mir soll nie weichen der Geist, der den Menschen vorwärts treibt, und dasVerlangen, das nie gesättigt von dem, was gewesen ist, immer Neuem entgegen geht. Das ist dem MenschenRuhm, zu wissen, dass unendlich sein Ziel ist, und doch nie still zu stehen im Lauf” [Infinite is what I wantto recognize and hold, and only in an infinite succession of action can I totally determine myself. The spiritshould not give way from me, who pushes human being forward, and the longing, that never can be satisfiedby that, which has been, and always moves forward to novelties. This is the glory of man to know that infiniteis his destination and never to stop in his course] (Schleiermacher 1978, p. 89).124 This has been shown in important works about the relation of Schleiermacher’s theology to science. Thefirst one is Dittmer (2001, pp. 23–24 [mathematics], 142–44 [metaphysics], 476–78 [hermeneutics]). Theauthor shows that infinite processes are the key of Schleiermacher’s concept of science (Wissenschaftslehre).