[Buddha-l] FW: Soteriology of universals

[jkirk]

Here's a bit from a post to the Indology list. 

"The realist-nominalist debate over the epistemology and metaphysics of
universals (sAmAnya) was/is as robust in India as it was/is in the West.
However, in a few places Plato defends real universals not only for their
explanatory and even causative power, but also for their soteriological
power, by which meditation upon them (e.g., beauty, wisdom, goodness) is
transformative of the mind/soul. "

Would philosophers on this list kindly add to the discussion of the
proposition? 
And was it really started by Plato, or by earlier thinkers, and any in
India? that meditation on beauty (leaving out wisdom or goodness for now) is
a redemptive practice?

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