Universalia

From the work series origin of ideas
Universalia
1998
Glass fiber, folio, and oil
400x150x300cm

In philosophy of mind, dualism is a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter, which begins with the claim that mental phenomena are, in some respects, non-physical.
I have been quite interested with this issue and several of my works are based on a visual metaphors originating from arguments that have been made both for and against this thesis. Combining the vise/versa in a visual form. Sometimes the thesis and counter thesis can be found within the visual language of the same work.
Ideas on mind/body dualism originate at least as far back as Zarathushtra. Plato and Aristotle deal with speculations as to the existence of an incorporeal soul that bore the faculties of intelligence and wisdom. They maintained, for different reasons, that a person’s knowledge
(a faculty of the mind or soul) could not be identified with, or explained in terms of, their physical body.
Plato makes it clear, in the Phaedo, that the Forms are the universalia ante rem, i.e. they are universal concepts (or ideas), which make the entire phenomenal world intelligible.
Thomas of Aquin, that is known for his effort to combine Christian believe with Philosophical thought formulated the quotation that I used in this work.
Universalia sunt realia ante rem, (The idea exists before the actual thing), has been a mantra against Occhams razor blade argument.
The Sentence has been spliced in four sequences and airbrushed on thin glass fiber textile hovering over an abyss of blackness. (Black folio, covered with a thin layer of oil).