Friday, July 5, 2019

Indefinite Dyad and Heliocentrism

One passage in Plato's recognized writings that perhaps exemplifies his purported otherwise apocryphal interest in the One-Indefinite Dyad contrast is in the Philebus, in which the contrast is rendered as Limited vs. Unlimited.  If the passage does so exemplify the topic, it is potentially instructive for Modern Philosophy.  For, a notable instance of the Limited-Unlimited contrast is that of Geocentrism vs. Heliocentrism, in which the concept of the Universe as closed is replaced with one of it as open.  In other words, Modern Astronomy, at least, exemplifies the Indefinite Dyad.  Nevertheless, Theology persists in retaining an upper bound to Human affairs, and Modern and Contemporary Philosophy has generally followed suit, e. g. the systems of Hegel, Marx, Bergson, Alexander, and Whitehead, each has an upper limit, as does that of Spinoza, insofar as Eternity and Perfection are criteria, though not insofar as Substance is dynamically Infinite.  In each of these, the Ancient depreciation of the Indefinite Dyad is expressed, with the difference that Modern Astronomy and Human history is making that depreciation obsolete.

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