GROUND MOTIVE:
a term used in the PHILOSOPHY of Herman DOOYEWEERD. A ground motive
represents the fundamental motivation or driving force of a CULTURE. It is the common
spirit which gives a community its dynamics and controls its entire attitude to life.
Ground motives exercise unconscious influence on individuals and societies. Dooyeweerd
recognizes four basic ground motives in the development of Western society: form-matter;
creation-fall-redemption; nature-grace; and nature-freedom. In his view only the Christian
ground motive of creation-fall-redemption exists as a radical unity that avoids
dialectical tensions. The others are plagued reductionist tendencies which force a choice
between one or the other poles of the ground motive. For example, in the field of
PSYCHOLOGY, various conflicts exist between "humanistic psychology" and
deterministic theories. According to Dooyeweerd these conflicts reflect the influence of
the polar tensions of the modern Western ground motive of nature-freedom and not, as most,
practitioners think, different interpretations of "the facts."
