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Witness critically appropriated is theology. Theology become "action-orienting knowledge" (Habermas) is dogma.

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Also assumed here is Habermas's analysis, according to which one and the same proposition may constitute the content of either (1) an opinion (on the primary level of "interaction"); (2) a theoretical statement (on the secondary level of "discourse"); or (3) a statement of action-orienting knowledge (again, on the primary level of "interaction"). Thus an opinion becomes a theoretical statement as and when its meaning is critically interpreted and the claims to validity that it makes or implies are critically validated. A theoretical statement, in turn, becomes a statement of action-orienting knowledge as and when it ceases to be "virtualized" and hypothetical and becomes instead a rule or principle of action. On my analysis, which is, in effect, an application of Habermas's analysis to a special case, witness in particular is to an opinion in general as theology in particular is to a theoretical statement in general and as dogma in particular is to a statement of action-orienting knowledge in general.

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