Varieties of Thought Volume III

The last part of my book "Varieties of Thought" will concern itself with the history of philosophy in Tamriel and what different philosophers have thought, said and written.

As with everything else, the Altmer were also the first philosophers. Meryaran is considered the father of philosophy throughout Tamriel. When he lived exactly is unknown, but it must have been around the early heights of Altmer culture during the middle Merethic Age. His teachings and speeches were written down and kept in the libraries of Summerset Island. I had the honor to personally read some of his writings.

Meryaran taught his disciples that the ultimate question is "the question, what the reason is for everything". He himself called this question often "The Great Why". He also taught that the state of enlightenment would come through reason and thought and not through belief. This was when he had the first conflicts with the priests. In a brilliant speech he defended himself in front of a religious tribunal of the priests and came free. But he was more careful afterwards and taught his disciples only about nature and her laws.

Some say that he visited several cities of the Dwemer and learned much from them concerning science. But while the Dwemer were more interested in the practical use of science, like mechanics, Meryaran was more interest in theoretical science. Therefore he concerned himself mostly with mathematic and its use in theoretical science. His disciples followed him and the school which he founded became one of great thinkers.

His most famous disciple, Olquar, wrote a book about logic. Until today it is still the basis of logical thinking. Some of his disciples concerned themselves with natural sciences, like medicine or physics, like Rumare, who wrote a book about basic mechanics. Another one, Larindil, wrote four books concerning mathematics, especially geometry. In his fourth book he presented what should later be known as "Larindil's theorem". The theorem concern itself with the nature of right triangles. The Meryaranians, as they called themselves, existed long and out of their ranks came many of the famous Altmer thinkers and scientists.

Some centuries later the society of the Meryaranians had become an accepted part of Altmer society. They were often teachers and had schools and libraries. Also they were considered as wise and knowledgeable. Often they were quite arrogant.

In this time Erundil appeared. Erundil was the son of a merchant, but first he didn't think about taking over his father's business. Instead he first went to an academy of the Meryaranians. But soon he had enough of them and went his own way. He opened a little store near the market place of his home town Alinor on the Summerset Isle and began to talk to people. Not normal gossip, he began to ask people questions. Questions which made people think about their lives and their beliefs. He accused the Meryaranians of being arrogant and not true to the words of their founder. Soon he had a group of disciples around him and together they began to think about how people should live. Together they formed basic rules of ethics.

His teachings about ethics were accepted by most. But then he rejected the common version of the creation myth and proclaimed his own ideas. He told that the beginning was not Anu and Padomay, but that Anu and Padomay were actually creations themselves. They were the two sides of "The Great One", but in a major catastrophe in the beginning the Great One was parted in two, so Anu and Padomay came into being. Since the great parting, everything began to fall apart and the world of the mortals is only the latest step in this process. But, so Erundil taught, in the end of all everything will again come together and all will be once again the Great One as it always should have been. He also taught that this is a cycle and that the Great One is parted and put together over and over again for all eternity.

Erundil was brought before a tribunal of the priests and the Meryaranians. There he was accused of blasphemy against the gods and should he be found guilty, the sentence would be his death. Erundil defended himself in proving logically that neither his belief nor the belief of the accepted religion could be proven. But, so his argument, his belief was more rational, since it does explain everything better than the common belief and therefore should be accepted and replace the old "theory of creation". He was still sentenced to death tough and killed with a life-draining spell.

Erundil's greatest student, Volanaro, continued the work of his master and of him we know more, since we do possess his writings. Erundil's writings were all censored and burned. Volanaro wrote three books concerning ethics, but then moved on and wrote a book concerning the differences between the world of the mortals and the sphere of the gods, especially Oblivion of the Daedra. His greatest achievement was probably his book "On how to rule and govern". In the book he described a fictional realm which he describes as perfect. There all inhabitants are parted into different classes by their abilities. The highest class is the one of the Wise (the class of the rulers), the next one the class of the guardians, then follow the classes of the merchants, craftsmen, farmers. This perfect realm does no longer have any bureaucrats; everything is controlled by the Wise.

Volanaro also had students and he built a great academy in Alinor. Volanaro's most famous student was Imare, the first female philosopher. She concerned herself more with earthly matters than Volanaro had. It was also she who took up again the idea of "The Great One" which Elundil had invented. But she expanded it and called it "The Great Reason". For her, it was the answer to Meryaran's question of "The Great Why". In her book "On the cycles of existence" she presented her theory that everything moves in huge cycles, parting, melting together, creating and destroying. Everything seeks balance and tries to go together again. But by the opposite force of unbalance, it is torn apart again.

Those were the three great Altmer philosophers of the Merethic Era. We move now on to the other philosophers of this era.

The Dwemer had several philosophers which aren't widely known. They mostly described our world and the universe as something mechanical and mathematical, something to be understood. Also the gods themselves were part of this "Great Machine", as they called it.

But one of them is worth mentioning, he is the only one we know more about and he is the only one which actually had some influence on our world. His name was Barik Nzalaf and we know of him through his books. Some also think that Barik had a great influence on Kagrenac, a theory I myself believe.

Barik Nzalaf was very typical for the Dwemer culture, but he actually went a step further and led the Dwemer on the way which would finally lead to their disappearance. We know that Barik was a normal Dwemer craftsman, living near Red Mountain. If he had remained a craftsman, we would probably not know anything about him.

Barik soon came to the conclusion that he was not a good craftsman, so he began to write books. First he wrote books about crafting, but soon his writings shifted more and more towards philosophy. And that is how he became known among the other Dwemer.

His main philosophy was one of questioning the gods themselves. Through their study of Nirn and the Outer Realms, the Dwemer more and more began to think that the beings normally titled with "gods" had limits themselves. Barik was the first one to openly question the gods themselves. He asked, if the gods were really gods or just beings on a somewhat higher level of existence. The legends tell that the gods were created, so why do we call them gods? What is the definition of a god? His conclusion was that since the beings called "gods" were bound to certain limits, they couldn't be called gods. He redefined "god" as an absolutely perfect being with no limitations which is the reason for itself (meaning, a true god is neither created nor bound to anything else in order to exist; the reason for the existence of a true god must be himself). By his definition, every being until this time titled "god" was not a god at all. So, if those beings were not gods at all, perhaps mortal beings could reach this next level of existence. Or perhaps they could create a being of this higher level of existence.

And here it becomes clear why most historians, including myself, believe that Kagrenac was highly influenced by the writings of Barik. Barik was the one who formulated the idea of an artificial god; Kagrenac was the one who tried to create one.

During the Middle Merethic Era, the Orcs (or Orismeri) were transformed into what they are now. Their culture is and was very different from the ones of the other Mer. Orcs are adapted to war and fighting, so it their whole culture. Also their thinkers concerned themselves with such matters.

The most important of those thinkers is Lugrub gro Sharbag. Lugrub lived soon after the transformation of the Orismeri and he was troubled by this. He began to think about how the identity of his people had been changed by this transformation. Finally he concluded that the transformation was rather a blessing than a curse. In his opinion, the Orismeri were the race chosen to conquer or destroy all other races. To the Orismeri the "Gift of War" was given so that they could fulfill their "holy duty". He also added that the only way for mortals to reach immortality was to be remembered for ever. He introduced the principle of the immortal fighter, living for all times in songs and legends concerning his battles. The way of the warrior, so Lugrub taught, was the only way to achieve the status of a god. He also taught that the greatest warrior and conqueror would change Tamriel and that he would really reach immortality. Some think that this was a prophecy of Tiber Septim.