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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.