Questions tagged [universals]

To be used when discussing the philosophical concept of universals.

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Aristotelian realism of universals

I'm trying to understand this realism. There are universals that exist in particulars and they are all identical. Is this Identity a numerical identity? i.e. are these universals one and the same ...
Abdul Rehman Mohsin's user avatar
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4 answers
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Why do realists insist that universals EXIST?

Consider a universe of size 10×10×10. Let there be 10 identical looking apples and 10 identical looking rods in it. Why do realists insist that not just 20 things exists but there also EXISTS ...
Razor's user avatar
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Is consciousness universal?

I have just read "Why" by Philip Goff. He proposes that matter consists of conscious entities. Physics based on mathematics tells us what matter does, not what it is. This has implications ...
Meanach's user avatar
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When I visualize a patch of red and intend that it be the same shade of red as some patch I've previously seen, do I represent a redness universal?

My audiovisual imagination is very active and vivid (to the point of interfering with more objective representation much of the time), but so I am used to the "experience," if you will, of ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
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Plato's forms - sparse realism and scope of forms

Was Plato a sparse realist about universals? (because "Carve nature at its joints") And did he think everyday human made objects and social kinds had forms? eg tables Thanks
kungfuhobbit's user avatar
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Why does A in Max Black's "Identity of Indiscernibles" assert that there is nothing verifiably different between the twin world and no-twin world?

i just finished "Identity of Indiscernibles" by Max Black and I'm a bit confused. In Max Black's paper, A (the character that asserts that the identity of indiscernibles is true) says to B (...
zzz's user avatar
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Is there a difference between an abstraction and a property?

What I mean by an abstraction is a single thought that abstracts or stands for many objects, like "something blue". This stands for anything that is colored blue. What I mean by a property ...
David Gudeman's user avatar
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Question about problems of universals

When we draw a general triangle, we're inclined to draw a triangle that's either right, or acute, or obtuse, but not the general triangle itself. Then how do humans know its existence?
ploybius's user avatar
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Would a universal (tran)set violate the law of identity?

At least, here's the argument that opened the question for me: The anticlass-theory principle: there are no discrete proper classes. There are intensional elementhood parameters such that if some set ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
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Where can I find Boethius' commentary on the Isagoge?

I've read and heard many times over about Boethius' commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge, that it's an interesting text about the problem of the universals and that it was very popular in the Middle Ages. ...
rmdmc89's user avatar
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Understanding the concept of "Entity"

I was reading the concept for an entity, it says: An entity is something that exists as itself, as a subject or as an object, real or potentially, concretely or abstractly, physically or not. It need ...
Kapoa's user avatar
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Do Universals Possess a Different Kind of Reality to Particulars?

I have a long interest in the 'problem of universals' and a conviction that some form of either Platonic or Aristotelian realism in respect of universals is correct. This extends to what is called '...
Wayfarer's user avatar
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Is nominalism generally considered to be disconfirmed?

In Are numbers particulars?, David Gudeman states "nominalist, which I don't think anyone is these days." I was not aware that nominalism regarding universal is generally considered to be ...
Make42's user avatar
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On the ontology of ideas

There's a useful summary of the subject of universals in the public domain Encyclopedia.com. In it, we read: Realist and conceptualist theories of universals are, by long tradition, regarded as ...
Wayfarer's user avatar
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Universals, object-concept and sense

I am confused about "concept", "sense" and "properties" which may have some similarity but fundamentally are different. I explain my understanding as follows : Object-...
reza-ebadi's user avatar
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Ramsey's Universals: Why is "Neither Socrates nor Plato is wise" not a proposition of the form "x is wise"?

I am studying Ramsey's 1925 paper Universals, and he states that "Socrates is wise", "Plato is wise", etc. are propositions of the form "x is wise", yet "Neither ...
tashakinns's user avatar
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Why should universal generalization work for abstract objects?

I am reading a logic book in my free time and usually the inference rule of universal generalization is motivated by real-life examples: Imagine having the statement that all people with brown hair ...
user1578232's user avatar
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Is there a materialist explanation for the type-token distinction?

Is there a materialist theory in philosophy that goes beyond giving a dictionary definition of the type/token distinction and attempts to explain what types and tokens really are in material terms, e....
ali's user avatar
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Question about problem of universals

I'm looking for a clarification. Do philosophers generally agree that the use of statements involving universals are meaningful, even if the specific ontological status of the universal is in dispute? ...
Ameet Sharma's user avatar
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From what did we instantiated the concept of "Nothingness"

So as i understand according to Aristotle's theory of abstraction every abstract concept (i.e universal) is instantiated (or abstracted) from it particulars in the outside world if that so how can we ...
Yassine Sifeddine's user avatar
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Why is the class of basic statements permitted by "p" a subclass of the class of basic statement permitted by "q"?

Excerpt from section 37 "Logical Ranges. Notes on the Theory of Measurement" of "The Logic of Scientific Discovery": If a statement "p" is more easy to falsify than a ...
Paul Razvan Berg's user avatar
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Is the Problem of Universals still a prominent topic of debate?

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy includes an entry for the Medieval version of the debate of universals, but not for anything contemporary. There's an entry on universals in the Internet ...
user1050268's user avatar
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Understanding the concept of universality

I have the requirement to understand what is meant by Platonist Universality. I am also interested in learning the difference (if there is any difference) between Aristotelian Universality and ...
1Philitas's user avatar
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5 answers
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Do I have to do something rather than nothing?

Disclaimer: I'm a newbie in Philosophy, and this question is most probably answered somewhere (on this site or not), but I've been looking for a while now and it's a little difficult to steer myself ...
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On Universals and Particulars

I was thinking about the ontological problem of Universals versus Particulars and there is one thing that I can't understand well about the concept of Universal. If I have a cat (let's call it Steve) ...
Yamar69's user avatar
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Are "univerals" created? Do they evolve?

I've come across the philosophical debate about "universals" versus "particulars". On the one hand, some believe there are no universals, only particulars (nominalists). On the other hand, there are ...
luchonacho's user avatar
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Name of fallacious reasoning about the reality of abstractions

There is a kind of reasoning that is often heard, where the irreality of some abstraction is inferred from the fact that entities that fall under it are not perfectly homogenous. (1) A lot of times ...
user3636325's user avatar
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Cause and Effect - Finished infinity [closed]

I have a question it's best if I give you an example right away. Our universe has its limits. in terms of the effect or cause e.g. if we kill a human for some reason will also have the effect. I'm ...
user38342's user avatar
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What is the division of philosophical doctrines with respect to absoluteness/relativity of truth?

Right now I am listening to a talk on youtube which starts with the declaration "of course we all know truth is a relative notion". There are certainly some directions in philosophy which ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
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6 answers
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Can a universal law be disproved?

I need to know that a universal law like the First Law Of Motion may be disproved or not. I mean, that how can we make sure that the particular law will hold true at all places of the universe?
serv0id's user avatar
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On the universal and preconception in stoic logic: the word "natural" (naturale) from Diog. L., VII, 54

Foreword: as an Italian student, I hope that I will not make many mistakes in translating the lexicon from my native language to English; sometimes this will happen, and so putting the Italian word in ...
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Forms vs. universals for Aristotle

Aristotle associates the form of the human body with the soul and often De Anima iii 5 is interpreted so that Aristotle believed the human soul to be a subsistent form, which means the soul can exist ...
viuser's user avatar
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Can nominalists believe in their own death?

Can nominalists believe in their own death? You often hear people talk about death as nothing-ness, which suggests a universal nothing. And nominalists say that universals do not exist. Just trying ...
luke's user avatar
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What is the difference between "singular vs individual" and "universal vs general"?

I'm trying to understand the distinct difference between these terms, they seem very similar but there is a different pattern behind them. Could you tell me with example how do you differentiate ...
Feras's user avatar
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Deconstruction of Aristotle´s forms

I wonder (once more) about Aristotle form and the relation between universal concept of color and nominalism of colored things, in the light of quantum mechanics. Based on how we understand e.g. the ...
Mikael Jensen's user avatar
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6 answers
2k views

What is Money, (not money)?

Money plays a major role in our experience and I find that very few people explore the idea of what it is. This question concerns Form. Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally ...
Ronnie Royston's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
6k views

Kant's universalization explained, How does one universalize a thing?

I am having some doubts in understanding the universalisation of maxims in Kant's Categorical Imperative. For instance, one can determine whether a maxim of lying to secure a loan is moral by ...
Matas Vaitkevicius's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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What have been the major achievements in the debate regarding platonism and nominalism?

I have read some of the philosophies on either side of the argument, but lack the historical overview to really get a picture of the main achievements chronologically. I'm taking nominalism to mean ...
Pseudonym's user avatar
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4 answers
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How is nominalism different to universalism?

I wonder how this would be best explained to the public without prior knowledge (such myself). We have on one side the contradiction between e.g. the general or abstract “(being) yellow” vs “yellow ...
Mikael Jensen's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why is the third man argument seen as so decisive?

Why is the third man argument in Plato's Parmenides seen as a more or less decisive refutation of Platonic realism (Plato's theory of forms)? The argument rests on the assumption that self-...
viuser's user avatar
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Is it possible to use Wittgenstein's family resemblance approach to universals to separate high art from commercial art?

In a previous post, I asked whether it is possible to objectively compare the quality and validity of different pieces and forms of art. In the responses I got the overall response is that there is no ...
Alexander S King's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
316 views

Can nominalist logicians reject universals but accept universal statements?

I am aware that Nominalism comes in at least two flavors, one in particular is the denial of universals. Under this paradigm of Nominalsim, is it possible for a mathematician or even a logician to be ...
J. Dunivin's user avatar