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Work #786 · Late

Parallel Lives

Plutarch (Mestrius Plutarchus)
c. 96-119 CE · Ancient Greek
Moral biography · Hellenistic / Roman-imperial Middle Platonist biography

Plutarch's c. 100 CE moral biographies — Greeks and Romans paired for ethical comparison

Attribute Fingerprint

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

Attribute Parallel Lives (Late)
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 Infinite
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 Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Theistic
Observer · Moral Authority Tradition
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

Parallel Lives

The biographical time of paired careers.

Space

Parallel Lives

The Mediterranean world of Greeks and Romans.

Matter

Parallel Lives

The embodied statesmen of antiquity.

Observer

Parallel Lives

Plutarch the moral biographer.

Energy

Parallel Lives

Energies of action and virtue.

Information

Parallel Lives

The exemplary lives as moral information.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Parallel Lives

Plutarch's Parallel Lives: founding work of moral biography; central source for Shakespeare's Roman plays; shaped Montaigne, Rousseau, Emerson.