The Agreement Between Agreement and Disagreement
I finished G. K. Chesterton’s Autobiography this past week. It was a great read that prompted a lot of deep thinking and several blog posts. It was interesting to me how Chesterton’s discussions about very specific philosophical or religious doctrines caused me to think about applications in everyday life. One such discussion was about unity and universality. Now, I am not qualified to discuss those differences and similarities, but I found it curious how Chesterton described those with the two views. He said, “The agreement we really want is the agreement between agreement and disagreement. It is the sense that things do really differ, although they are at one” (p. 350). I love this because if you think about it, many issues are that way. We need to find the agreement between agreement and disagreement.
Chesterton used an example of satisfying the unity vs. universality question by quoting Catholic writer, Coventry Patmore: “God is not infinite; He is the synthesis of infinity and boundary” (p. 350). This suggested a nuanced understanding of the divine. Instead of viewing God solely as an endless, boundless infinity, Patmore proposed that God embodies both the limitless and the limited aspects—the infinite and the boundary or limit. It is the nuance of this example I believe we can use as inspiration for approaching many issues – looking for the agreement between agreement and disagreement.
Continuing with Chesterton’s example of Patmore’s view, God’s nature includes not just the vastness and boundlessness associated with infinity but also the presence of boundaries, limits, or structures that define and give shape to that infinity. It emphasized that divinity encompasses both the unbounded and the bounded, integrating the infinite nature of God with specific identities, attributes, or boundaries that make the divine comprehensible and relatable.
This is such a perfect example of the nuanced nature of many disagreements because it highlights the idea that God’s greatness isn’t just about boundless infinity but also includes the necessary boundaries that give meaning, structure, and harmony to that infinity. It’s a philosophical perspective that seeks to balance the concept of the divine as both grand and personal, limitless yet defined.
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