The quest for the true and the right

The twentieth century Catholic philosopher Bernard Lonergan described the process through which persons who desire to understand are able to arrive to correct understanding.  He maintained that this “invariant cognitional structure” pertains to all fields of knowing, including mathematics, the natural sciences, the social science, history, and common-sense understanding. 

In order to arrive to correct understanding, the “subject,” or the person seeking to understand, must place the desire to understand above all other desires.  The “pure desire to know” must take priority over all other desires.  Affection for, identification with, and the perceived interests of one’s social groups must be suspended.  Lonergan maintains that, although the desire to know is far from a universal phenomenon, there can be no doubt that it exists.  All of us are driven occasionally by the desire to understand, giving it temporary priority over other desires.  And there are persons who spend hours in their …