Words

You might ask, what in the world are you talking about? Well let me tell you. This is a concept that is brought up in the book First Theology by Kevin Vanhoozer (check out my library) that I have been ready as part of my hermeneutics class. It is used in philosophical conversations to describe a certain relationship between multiple entities.

So what does supervene mean? As I stated previously, supervenience deals with the relationship between two entities. As i understand it (as I believe Vanhoozer uses it) the relationship is one where something depends on another but the former can not be reduced to the latter. Simple, right? Thus, it can be said that a person’s goodness depends on the good acts they do; however, his goodness can not be reduced to simply the good acts. Another description says that our mental thoughts depend upon the neural firings of electric stimuli, but our thoughts can not be reduced to that (Vanhoozer 2002). Good people supervene good acts. Thoughts supervene neural firings.

Why would I bring this up, you ask? Well honestly, because it is a term I am trying to understand as I read through Vanhoozer’s book. He uses it often and its easy to miss what is being said if this term isn’t understood. So what better way to clarify my understanding than to write about it? (And I feel smart if I use big words… supervenience applies here since its over 10 letters long)

Well, there you have it folks, a good understanding of the term supervene. Please use with caution in your daily life!

…meaning supervenes words…