Threesology Research Journal
Philosophical Trichotomies
Page 2

(The Study of Threes)
http://threesology.org


This third list is something I found on the internet years ago when I began to place various examples onto webpages. It too is compiled on another of the pages at this site under a different heading: Threesological page 5.




Triple structure examples by Alexander I. Stepanov:


  • persons of pronouns: I - You - (he - she - it);
  • genders: masculine - feminine - neuter;
  • past - present - future;
  • three part's division of time by Confucius, Zoroastrians;
  • the tense system in German;
  • degrees of comparison for adjectives and adverbs: positive - comparative - superlative;
  • articles: definite - indefinite - zero;
  • parts of the sentence: two primes and a secondary;
  • the Heaven - the Earth - the Hell (Paradise - Earth - Inferno);
  • body - soul - spirit;
  • geosphere - biosphere - noosphere;
  • mind - sense - will;
  • three levels of the ego by K. Jaspers; more - less - equal;
  • rational quantities - algebraic irrational ones - transcendence;
  • real numbers - complex numbers - quaternions;
  • rich - middle - poor classes in modern Western societies;
  • the nobility - the clergy - the third estate in absolutistic France;
  • poetic social order in The Republic by Plato;
  • estate order in the Russian empire;
  • three forms of state service: military - civilian - court;
  • three branches of state power: legislative - executive - judicial;
  • the institute of tripartite commissions: business - trade unions - government;
  • the court: prosecution - defense - judge;
  • the forms of government: autocracy - oligarchy - democracy;
  • types of legal power by M. Weber;

Standard classification of political movements (and variants):


  • liberalism - conservatism - radicalism

  • liberalism - conservatism - Marxism;

  • liberalism - Marxism - nationalism;

  • the Right - the Left - the Centre;

  • the West - the East - the Third World;
  • the notion of "the Third Way";
  • world-system analysis: kernel - semi-periphery - periphery;
  • Russian ideology of the 19th century: orthodoxy - autocracy - nationality;
  • state ideology of Thailand: nation - religion - monarchy;
  • A. Ferguson: Ages of savagery - barbarism - civilization;
  • Thomsen: the Stone - the Bronze - the Iron Ages;
  • palaeolithic period - mesolithic period- New Stone Age;
  • Ancient history - Middle Ages - Modern times;
  • "Moscow is the Third Rome";
  • "the Third Reich" (Adolf Hitler);
  • "the Third Revelation";
  • classical system of literary genre: lyrics - epos - drama;
    tragedy - comedy - drama;
  • literary process: author - reader - critic;
  • ingredients of aesthetic object by M.M. Bakhtin: author - hero - audience;
  • Frege's triangle: real object - concept - symbol (denotation - designation - name);
  • F. de Saussure: langage - langue - parole
  • (Germ.: Rede - Sprache - das Sprechen or Sprache - Sprachtum - Sprechart);
  • mental structure of a person by S. Freud: the subconscious - consciousness - Super ego;
  • faith - hope - love;
  • spheres of moral law by Thomas Aquinas: the natural realm of elements - the heavenly world of the firmament - intelligible world;
  • the threes by J. Boehme;
  • the truth - the good - the beauty;
  • the highest cognitive abilities by I. Kant: reason - intellect - the ability for judgment;

Hegel:


  • the universal - the particular - the single,
  • being - nothing - becoming;
  • quality - quantity - measure;
  • essence - phenomenon - reality,
  • law - ethics - morals,
  • the family - the guild - the state,
  • thesis - antithesis - synthesis;

  • the life styles by S.A. Kierkegaard: aesthetic - ethic - religious;
  • three main paradigms of New Age's philosophy by A. Whitehead: idealism - materialism - dualism;
  • races of mankind: the three-race theory (Negroid - Mongoloid - Caucasoid);
  • ethnic kernel of American nation: the English - the Germans - the Irish;
  • main groups of European nations: Romanic - Germanic - Slavonic;
  • pivotal world religions: Christianity - Islam - Buddhism;
  • three main parts of Christianity: Catholicism - Orthodoxy - Protestantism;
  • key religious and philosophical components of the traditional Chinese culture: Confucianism - Daoism - Buddhism;
  • the threes of folklore's heroes;
  • Pythagorean classification of living intelligent creatures: God - man - a creature like Pythagoras;
  • Pascal: "The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, but not the God of philosophers";
  • Roman law: tres facuint collegium (the three make a collegium);
  • number three by the Pre-Iranians, Chinese, primordial people;
  • the structure of monogamic family: man - wife - children;
  • three-dimensional physical space;

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This next list was information taken from a poster: Aristotle's Golden Mean Chart. While the information is not typically presented under the heading of Trichotomies, it clearly is.


Sphere of action or feeling fight (5K)
+
Excess
(fight)
submit (5K)
←→
Mean
(Submit)
flee (4K)
-
Defeciency
(Flight)
Fear and ConfidenceRashness
thrasutes
Courage
andreia
Cowardice
deilia
Pleasure and PainLicentiousness
akolasia
Temperance
sophrosune
Insensibility
anaisthesia
Getting and Spending (minor)Prodigality
asotia
Liberality
eleutheriotes
Illiberality / Meanness
aneleutheria
Getting and Spending (major)Vulgarity
apeirokalia, banausia
Magniicence
megaloprepeia
Pettiness
mikroprepeia
Honor and Dishonor (Major)Vanity
chaunotes
Magnanimity
megalopsuchia
Pusillanimity
mikropsuchia
Honor and Dishoner (Minor)Ambition
philotimia
Proper ambition
...
Unambitiousness
aphilotimia
AngerIrascibility
orgilotes
Patience
praotes
Lack of spirit
aorgesia
Self-expressionBoastfulness
alazoneia
Truthfulness
aletheia
Understatement
eironeia
ConversationBufoonery
bomolochia
Wittiness
eutrapelia
Boorishness
agroikia
Social conductObsequiousness
areskeia

Flattery
kolakeia
Friendliness
philia (?)
Cantankerousness
duskolia
(duseris)
ShameShyness
kateplexis
Modesty
aidos
Shamelessness
anaischuntia
IndignationEnvy
phthonos
Righteous indignation
nemesis
Malicious enjoyment
epichairekakia

Chart based on: Aristotle. he Nicomachean Ethics (Penguin Classics). Ed. Hugh Tredennick. Trans. J. A. K. homson. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. pp. 285-286. Illustration of rashness, courage, and cowardice modiied from: Baird, Forrest E. Ancient Philosophy (Philosophic Classics, Volume I--4th Edition). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2002.



Page initially created: Monday, April 28, 2014



Your Questions, Comments or Additional Information are welcomed:
Herb O. Buckland
herbobuckland@hotmail.com