He is not the maker of this field of existents. Through illumination and transcendence, man finds himself in the situation from which questions of the origin and end of existence will arise. We must interpret the phenomenon of questioning itself. This analysis deals only with the demonstrations of classical and scholastic metaphysics, not with the whole structure of existence. The truth of reality has been traced to its origin in the noetic structure of existence.
Every debate presumes a shared background of unquestioned premises.
Aquinas argued that one could not use the Scriptures in arguing with the Mohammedans and pagans because they did not accept them. One had to drop back to natural reason. He could do that because his opponents accepted the classical foundation, agreeing with him as to the noetic structure of existence. We can no longer presume this today even as to the application of reason, because we do not share a community of existence with the ideologists. This is a therapeutic endeavor involving diagnosis and, if possible, healing.