Questions tagged [universal-and-particulars]
The universal-and-particulars tag has no usage guidance.
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Nature of Values: Is There Such a Thing as a Universal Value?
Introduction
The inquiry into the nature of values isn't merely theoretical; it is a matter of existential importance, especially when the values you've grown up with have been rooted in deception, ...
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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 ...
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In the liar/similar sentences, are the characteristic predicates being used more generally or more particularly, or neither?
Between (1) and (2), it seems like "is true" is more particular in the latter than the former:
The truth predicate ("is true") is a predicate attaching to (interpreted) sentences ...
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Do regresses-of-reasons go from particulars to generalities only, or can they mediate chains of just particulars or just generalities too?
I was thinking of Kant's discourse on the form of the law and the law of formality as reciprocal (in the Critique of Practical Reason), where he seems to talk about a regress from specific maxims to ...
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Does nominalism about kinds/universals entail eliminativism/nihilism about ordinary objects?
If one holds a nominalist or conventionalist view of universals or kind, then do they believe that there are ordinary objects?
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Kant and the Ship of Theseus
Does Kant's philosophy of perception and intuition imply that the unity of perceived individuals is an intuition? If so, this seems to resolve the various paradoxes of physical individuals such as the ...
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"Too simple to be simple" (a phrase in category theory) and the concept of absurdity
In category theory as practiced, there is this phrase "generalized abstract nonsense" (GAN), which is often used to cover sections of a derivation/judgment(?) that the audience is meant to ...
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How do humans generalize abstract concepts from concrete objects?
To elaborate, I would like to take the definition of square as example, the square is shape with four equal sides and either two sides form a 90 degrees angle, while we can not directly see it. What ...
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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 ...
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If there are abstract cases of space and time, then why wouldn't all the other abstract objects be located inside of them?
As per the SEP article on abstract objects:
Some of the archetypes of abstractness are non-spatiotemporal in a straightforward sense. It makes no sense to ask where the cosine function was last ...
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Is it possible to ask a completely generalized question?
Alternatively, are "absolutely" or "perfectly" generalized questions askable? Note that vs. the use-mention distinction, we can refer to questions that can be mentioned but never ...
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Is generality transitive?
If A is more general than B, and B more so than C, is A more general than C? I would be tempted to think so strictly, but:
Supposing that a haecceity is something real, where does it fit into the ...
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Examples of, or counterexamples to, the concept of erotetic inference?
Suppose that the generality-particularity ordering is the comprehensive ordering on inference. Compare:
What is the first integer after 2?
What is the first prime integer after 2?
(2) would seem ...
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How can I unambiguously differentiate between universals and particulars?
I am posting this question here as the question is philosophical at its core, but is connected to formal ontologies (e.g. DOLCE) used in computation. My background is more in computation than ...
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Do general facts and general properties go hand in hand?
I'm thinking of general properties as normal abstract objects (whatever "normal" means, here). But so I have never been able to get at why there was this strong, recurring thread in esp. ...
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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 ...
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Could the boundary between concrete and abstract objects be vague?
Though the SEP article on abstract objects has long weighed on my mind, I never formed much of an opinion about the question until now. The opinion I did have was negative: the ~space/~time definition ...
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Can we really see or hear action or event?
Concrete nouns refer to material objects which we can see or touch.
Abstract nouns refer to things which are not material objects, such as ideas, feelings and situations.
https://dictionary.cambridge....
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Is the axiomatic method an inherently well-founded method?
It occurred to me a little while ago, that there is a trichotomy in set theory that maps to the positive solutions to the problem of the regress of inferential reasons. Namely, well-founded sets map ...
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Are Epicurean 'pleasures of mind' clearly stated as being of a unique or universal nature?
I read that Epicurean 'pleasures of body' are unique to each individual. i.e. each person experiences the "pleasures of the body" in a different way.
I wondered whether Epicurean 'pleasures ...
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Logical Atomism and Simple Particulars
I read a bit of logical atomism by Russell, but would appreciate if someone explains with examples of what is meant by it. For example, it says that "[a]ccording to logical atomism, all truths ...
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