{"id":5680,"date":"2021-10-25T11:46:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T09:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/?p=5680"},"modified":"2025-05-01T11:15:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:15:31","slug":"syzygy-e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/syzygy-e\/","title":{"rendered":"Syzygy"},"content":{"rendered":"

SYZYGY<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The word syzygy<\/em> is an adaptation of the Greek word meaning \u201cconjunction\u201d.<\/span>
\nIn astronomy<\/em>, a syzygy occurs when three celestial bodies are aligned, such as the sun, earth and moon during a\u00a0 lunar eclipse.<\/p>\n

In traditional Catholic exegesis<\/em>,<\/strong> there is a syzygy correspondence between two entities, events, actions, when 1) they are not contemporaneous; 2) they bear a strong analogy<\/em><\/a>; 3) and the first prefigures, signifies, or announces the second.
\nThe first, the forerunner, is called the type <\/em><\/strong>and the second is called the antitype<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span>
\nThe Old Testament presents the types, the New Testament presents the antitypes [1]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe antitype not only repeats the type but completes and perfects it. […] Noah, Abraham, Moses … are \u201ctypes\u201d of Christ\u201d (Ellrodt 1980, 38).<\/p>\n

The syzygy principle orders history and the world, and, as such, provides the basis for the syzygy argument, which is used to establish significant links between the two \u201ctype vs.<\/em> antitype\u201d spheres. It uses the resources of structural analogy<\/a>, proportion<\/em>\u00a0and<\/em> proportionality<\/em><\/a> and a variant of the progress<\/em><\/a> argument, what comes before is analogous to what comes after, but has less being and substance than what comes after, in a two-state world.<\/p>\n

A variant of the syzygy principle projects the mundane<\/em> world, regarded as a type, onto the hereafter or eternal<\/em> world, its antitype, where it finds its raison d’\u00eatre.<\/p>\n

The syzygy argument retains its pedagogical function, which is to give the believer an idea of future conditions: The monarch<\/em> is the type, of which the Almighty Father<\/em> is the antitype.<\/p>\n

For him [man], too, He [God] has varied the figures of combinations [syzygies], setting before him first small things, and then great things, such as the world and eternity. But the world that is now, is temporary; that which is to be is eternal.<\/span>
\nClementine Homilies<\/em>, 3rd<\/sup> century (disputed).[2]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Syzygy-like principles can still be used, perhaps ironically, to support a historical analysis.<\/p>\n

In France, on Brumaire 18 (November 9th), 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup in order to establish his dictatorship. Half a century later, his nephew, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte also seized power by force. Karl Marx commented on the relationship between these two coups as follows.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hegel makes the observation that all great events and historical figures repeat themselves, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as a tragedy, the second time as a farce […]. And we find the same caricature in the circumstances in which the second edition of the 18th Brumaire appeared.<\/span>
\nKarl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon<\/em>, 1851[3].<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The principle that \u201chistory repeats itself the first time as a tragedy, the second time as a farce\u201d is a kind of inverted syzygy.<\/p>\n

\n[1] This vocabulary is specific, it has nothing to do with the model \/ anti-model perspective.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Clementine<\/em> Homilies<\/em>. Edimburgh: Clark, 1870, p. 38 (Homily II, Chapter XV. Quoted from www.ccel.org\/ccel\/schaff\/anf08.html<\/a>.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Brumaire<\/em> is the second month of the French Revolutionary Calender, corresponding to October-November; the Revolutionary year began in the fall. \u201cThe second edition<\/em>\u201d is the nephew\u2019s coup. Quoted from: www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/download\/pdf\/18th-Brumaire.pdf<\/a>. P. 5. (09-20-2013)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SYZYGY The word syzygy is an adaptation of the Greek word meaning \u201cconjunction\u201d. In astronomy, a syzygy occurs when three celestial bodies are aligned, such as the sun, earth and moon during a\u00a0 lunar eclipse. In traditional Catholic exegesis, there is a syzygy correspondence between two entities, events, actions, when 1) they are not contemporaneous; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5680"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14149,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680\/revisions\/14149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}