[225] LECTURE XIX, Dec. 8, 1955 QN: Is the character of the ultimate concern which is immanent in all philosophical inquiry conditioned, changed, or at all affected by the particular subject under consideration, [or the] content of the philosophical statement? PT: This question needs a little commentary [from you]. I am not absolutely sure whether I grasp it. Now the unconditional concern is something which grows out of the totality of the life experience of a human being, and insofar as the direction of his philosophical inquiry ALSO is dependent on his interest, his passion, his total eros (in the Platonic sense) toward a special side of reality, this certainly is an element which comes out of an ultimate concern and may influence ---and certainly has often influenced---the special way in which this ultimate concern expresses itself. On the other hand, these expressions have effect on the concern itself, as always an expression of something which is in us also CHANGES us---it is not only an expression which could be and could not be, but it is also an expression which is a reaction ON that which IS expressed. So in this sense one can say that in the course of philosophical inquiry, things may happen in the person of the philosopher which will give to his ultimate concern another direction, insofar as it is a concrete expression with concern. I don't know whether this completely answers the question. == Let us sum up what we have discussed about the relationship of religion ^aand philosophy.^b The first and main thing was that there is no interference from religion in the philosophical arena, or, as one calls it today, "'universe of discourse." And there is no interference of the PHILOSOPHICAL