The question of individuality runs through Byzantine thought. All metaphysics and ontology include individuals and must explain their status (one can choose to dispense with universals, but individual realities are always a given), and the Byzantine tradition is no exception. But the question is broader. An analysis of the problem of individuality is necessary in many fields where the application of universal and generic rules to particular cases is common practice. This panel aims to analyse Byzantine contributions to the problem of individuality in contexts that are not primarily philosophical: namely medicine, law, rhetoric and artistic practice. In the first two cases (medicine and law), knowledge and principles are universal and general, but patients and cases are always individual. The transition from generality to the individuality of the case requires adaptation: a good doctor takes into account the individual reality of his patient, just as a judge takes into account the particular situation before him and the individual history of the person on trial. Since individuality does not only concern human beings, but members of all existing species, the example taken for medicine concerns horse medicine in the Hippiatrika. The individuality of rhetorical style offers another example of a case where a combination of characteristics produces a unique reality that is recognisable and associated with a given individual alone. Artistic representation is, in the vast majority of cases, intended to be a representation of a given individual with specific characteristics. Just as we do not see man in general, we do not represent man as such, but a given individual. This implies that the representation must be particularised.
This paper examines Theomnestos’s case histories in the Hippiatrika as rare clinical narratives that position horses as individualised patients in the medical encounter. His accounts reveal a distinct concern for equine welfare, emphasising emotional connection, responsibility of human caretakers, and the moral dimensions of treatment. By presenting horses as beings capable of suffering and in…
In der frühbyzantinischen bildenden Kunst ist es gängige Praxis Flüsse als Personifikationen darzustellen, sowohl im sakralen als auch profanen Kontext. Die ikonophile Argumentation des byzantinischen Bilderstreits, die sich in diesem Punkt auf ältere Autoren stützt, betont die strikte Unterscheidung zwischen Ikone (εἰκών) und Götze (εἴδωλον): Eine Ikone besitzt einen prototypos, ein Götze hingegen ist das…
Throughout the Byzantine millennium, Hermogenes of Tarsos’ (2nd c.) treatise On forms of speech provided a framework to conceptualize not only speech but also the wide array of social relationships that speech creates and mediates. In doing so, it also provided a conceptual toolbox through which to pinpoint the individually specific mixture of stylistic forms…
Just as a good doctor must take into account the individual constitution of his patient before administering treatment, a judge must take into account the individual circumstances of each case he has to decide. In both cases, a general rule (‘Such a fever is treated with such a medicine’, ‘Such a crime deserves such punishment’)…