Former Fellows

The main task for my project is to develop the theme of the problem of universals as a factor of self-identity of the intellectual culture of Byzantium. For it I will suggest a general overview of the theory of universals in the 4th-14th century AD Byzantine intellectual culture.

Under "Byzantine philosophy" I understand the philosophical tendencies in the Christian intellectual culture of Byzantium. As a rule, these philosophical tendencies in Byzantium were tied with the development of theological thought.

I discern three traditional periods in Byzantine culture and civilization: the Early Byzantine, Middle Byzantine and Late Byzantine periods. I will point out the specifics of the development of problems of universals in Byzantium in each of these periods.

I consider the outset of Byzantine philosophy to be the first half of 4th century when, beginning with Constantinople's foundation, the political background of Byzantine civilization started to be formed and the foundations were laid of the future Byzantine philosophical tradition. For this reason, following Katerina Ierodiakonou, I shall consider themes, which are tied with the Byzantine thought, beginning with authors who lived in 4th century. My review will end with the Palamite controversy.

It seems to me that if we are to speak about the development of the doctrine of universals in the Byzantine thought, three factors are to be distinguished: firstly, the theological factor, secondly, the factor of the influence of popular non-scholarly philosophical views, such as commonplace Aristotelianism, and, thirdly, the factor of direct influence of the Antique school philosophy.

In Byzantium the theological factor in the development of the theory of universals was by and large connected with theological dogmatic debates. Thus, regarding the theological factor, it is important to distinguish three main stages in the history of theological debates when the problem of universals played a significant role and when it was developed. These are: in the Early Byzantine period: 1) the stage of the formation of philosophical tendencies in Byzantium in the 4th century AD during the Arian debates, and 2) the stage of the Chalcedonite/Monophysite debates in the 6th-8th century; in Late Byzantine period: 3) the stage of the Palamite controversy in the 14th century.

Regarding the influence of non-scholarly philosophical views, it should be noted that during the Arian debates, the commonplace Aristotelian discourse of generality was adopted and established in the Byzantine thought, and the discussion on the specifics of understanding of the Aristotelian discourse of generality is relevant both to the Arian and the Chalcedonite/Monophysite debates.

Talking about the factor of scholarly philosophy, to my mind, two philosophical schools are to be discussed: there were various influences of Athens and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic schools on Christian philosophizing authors concerning the theme of universals. These schools introduced into Byzantine philosophy two different ways of understanding universals.

The influence of these schools on the Christian authors in Byzantium dates back to VI c., i.e. the Early Byzantine period. The influence of the Athens school is tied with the discourse of hierarchy of universals-beginnings of created beings introduced in the Byzantine philosophical thought by the author of the so called Corpus Areopagiticum (the beginning of 6th century) who adopted this discourse from the scholarch of Athenian School of Neo-Platonism Proclus. The topic of hierarchy of universals-beginnings of created beings, introduced into the Byzantine philosophical discourse by the author belonging to, evidently, the Monophysite party (by the author of the Corpus Areopagiticum), was adopted by the Chalcedonists, but didn't play a meaningful role in the Chalcedonite/Monophysite debates; however, this very topic became the subject of polemics later in the Middle Byzantine period, and, especially, in the Late Byzantine period within the Palamite controversy. The appearance of the topic of hierarchy of beginnings relates to the change of manner of description of participation of an individual in a common.

The influence of the Alexandrian school is tied with the name of Ammonius of Alexandria, a pupil of Proclus. Within Ammonius' philosophical school the triple manner of understanding of universals was developed - as existing prior to the things, in the things and after the things - which influenced, basically, philosophical thought in Middle Byzantium, mostly in the school at Constantinople.