Particulars
If particulars are to have meaning there must be universals.
Attributed to Plato
For art and science cannot exist except in minutely organized particulars.
Attributed to William Blake
Metaphysics are most perfect when concerned with universals; Poetry, when most concerned with particulars.
Attributed to Samuel Beckett
Particulars seem to make up our perceptual worlds, just as the tiles of the Loft-Allah Mosque make up its ceiling. But it is not the tiles we take notice of, rather it is the colours (universals) and the peacock’s tail pattern (the
emergence
The page on Emergence introduces the problem of new knowledge.
of form) to which we attend. Particulars have a specific spatio-temporal location, whereas universals and patterns are not located. Poetry, art and science all
depend
While being essential to culture, maybe this relation is also found in religion.
on particulars, however, as Plato asserted, particulars
on their own
A boulder sitting maybe as a good example of a meaningless particular.
are meaningless - what is a tile without universals or patterns? When we try to define them we find that the abstract and the concrete chase one another like chicken and egg, so different in conception, so interdependent in function. And both vital in creating
the objects
A page on the idea of 'objects' and something of the way the word is used.
with which we live.
These quotes are all attributions, the original of which I have been unable to confirm, but their interlocking nature is too attractive to resist, so my apologies if any are erroneous.
The photograph is taken looking up inside the dome of the Shaikh Lotf-Allah Mosque in Isfahan. To get a sense of the scale, notice the lamp hanging down from the centre of the green medallion 200 feet (60 metres) above. The tiles are hand-sized.
Above hovering on blue introduces a link: click to go, move away to stay.
Saturday 7th March 2020
...guide to this site