The Beginning of the Debate on the Universals in Byzantine Philosophy and Its Historical and Philosophical Contex
The Beginning of the Debate on the Universals in Byzantine Philosophy and Its Historical and Philosophical Contex

Summary/Abstract: By “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 consider the beginning of Byzantine philosophy to be the first half of 4th century, when, beginning with Constantinople’s foundation, the political background of Byzantine civilization began to be formed and the foundations were laid for the future Byzantine philosophical tradition. For this reason, following Katerina Ierodiakonou1, I shall consider themes that are tied to Byzantine thought, beginning with authors who lived in 4th century. In discussing the historical and philosophical context of using the concept of universals, I intend to use the noun “universal” not only as a concept of “common substance” (as implied by some historians of philosophy and theology), but also as a concept of “generality,” understood in the “horizontal” sense, that is, in the sense of the common species or genus. Below I will discuss in detail the early use of universals (understood in the above sense), and the controversy about them in Byzantine philosophy in terms of the influence of non-Christian philosophy in Late Antiquity on the paradigm of understanding universals in early Byzantine philosophy.

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