Newman and First Principles: The Noetic Dimension of the Illative Sense

John Henry Newman’s reflections on first principles aim to account for the insurmountable differences\udbetween people’s worldviews.1 The emphasis Newman puts on first principles cannot\udbe overstated. Newman argues for the ultimately determinative role that they play in any dispute.\udThere can be little doubt that Newman was familiar with Aristotle’s statement from the\udNicomachean Ethics that ‘It is thought. . .that the starting-point or principle is more than half the\udwhole matter.’2 In Newman’s words, these ‘first elements of thought’ are ‘half the battle’.3\udSince first principles are so central to the thought of Newman, much has been written on this\udtopic, not only to elucidate Newman’s thoughts on the matter, but also to make sense of the\udterm’s development in Newman’s corpus.4 This article will summarize some of the main points\udof the latest contributors with special attention to the work of Rik Achten.5 While his work has\udmuch to commend for itself, I will criticize one aspect of it while offering a close reading of relevant\udpassages from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics in order to shed light on the noetic aspect\udof the Illative Sense in its acquisition of first principles