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Work #264 · Mid (the middle volume of the visionary trilogy)

Liber Vitae Meritorum

Hildegard of Bingen
1158-63 (the middle work of the visionary trilogy, between Scivias and Liber Divinorum Operum) · Medieval Latin
Visionary moral-spiritual treatise in six parts, with thirty-five vices and thirty-five virtues · Medieval German Christian mysticism / spiritual psychology

Thirty-five vices and thirty-five virtues — Hildegard's middle visionary work, the systematic spiritual-moral treatise

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Liber Vitae Meritorum (Mid (the middle volume of the visionary trilogy))
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Singular
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Scripture
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Liber Vitae Meritorum

The temporal life of spiritual progress through the virtues and away from the vices.

Space

Liber Vitae Meritorum

The visionary space of the cosmic moral order; the interior space of the soul.

Matter

Liber Vitae Meritorum

Embodied human life as the substrate of virtue and vice.

Observer

Liber Vitae Meritorum

Hildegard as the visionary receiver — embodied, singular, divinely authorised. Personal-providential God as framework.

Energy

Liber Vitae Meritorum

The energies of virtue (participating in divine goodness) and vice (privation thereof).

Information

Liber Vitae Meritorum

The systematic spiritual-psychological tradition preserved through visionary articulation.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Liber Vitae Meritorum

The Liber Vitae Meritorum has been less translated and read than Scivias, partly because of its more systematically detailed structure. The relation between Hildegard's visionary form and the systematic spiritual-psychological content has been a continuing scholarly question. Modern Hildegard scholarship has substantially rehabilitated the work.