metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

, a universal is what particular things have in common, namely characteristics or qualities. In other words, universals are repeatable or recurrent entities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things. For example, suppose there are two chairs in a room, each of which is green. These two chairs both share the quality of " chairness", as well as greenness or the quality of being green; in other words, they share a "universal". There are three major kinds of qualities or characteristics: types or kinds (e.g. mammal), properties (e.g. short, strong), and

relations Relation or relations may refer to: General uses *International relations, the study of interconnection of politics, economics, and law on a global level *Interpersonal relationship, association or acquaintance between two or more people *Public ...

(e.g. father of, next to). These are all different types of universals. Paradigmatically, universals are ''

abstract Abstract may refer to: * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land * Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document * Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...

'' (e.g. humanity), whereas particulars are ''

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

'' (e.g. the personhood of Socrates). However, universals are not necessarily abstract and particulars are not necessarily concrete. For example, one might hold that numbers are particular yet abstract objects. Likewise, some philosophers, such as D. M. Armstrong, consider universals to be concrete. Most do not consider classes to be universals, although some prominent philosophers do, such as John Bigelow.

Qualification of universals

The history of any creation went through a process of qualifications meeting dependancies of that type thing, including all parts put together to make it an accepted thing of its particular type. A chair must first exist upon a surface with the force of gravity upon it. The chair must be upon something solid and it must provide a platform for something to sit upon. Any other universals for “chairness” must qualify the particular dependencies set forth by authority. The first chair qualified itself as a chair from its propriety. Universals exist in every created thing, but only in the individual subparts themselves, not in the whole thing itself. Universals can be thought of as an evolution of a creation’s life constantly on a journey towards perfection.

Problem of universals

The problem of universals is an ancient problem in metaphysics about whether universals exist. The problem arises from attempts to account for the phenomenon of similarity or attribute agreement among things. For example,

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in law ...

and Granny Smith apples are similar or agree in attribute, namely in having the attribute of greenness. The issue is how to account for this sort of agreement in attribute among things. There are many philosophical positions regarding universals. Taking "

beauty Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...

" as an example, four positions are: *

Idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely con ...

: beauty is a property constructed in the mind, so it exists only in descriptions of things. * Platonic extreme realism: beauty is a property that exists in an ideal form independently of any mind or thing. * Aristotelian moderate realism or conceptualism: beauty is a property of things (''fundamentum in re'') that the mind abstracts from these beautiful things. * Nominalism: there are no universals, only individuals. Taking a broader view, the main positions are generally considered classifiable as: extreme realism, nominalism (sometimes simply named "anti-realism" with regard to universals), moderate realism, and

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely con ...

. Extreme Realists posit the existence of independent, abstract universals to account for attribute agreement. Nominalists deny that universals exist, claiming that they are not necessary to explain attribute agreement. Conceptualists posit that universals exist only in the

mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for vario ...

, or when conceptualized, denying the independent existence of universals, but accepting they have a ''fundamentum in re''. Complications which arise include the implications of language use and the complexity of relating language to

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ...

Particular

A universal may have instances, known as its ''particulars''. For example, the type ''dog'' (or ''doghood'') is a universal, as are the property ''red'' (or ''redness'') and the relation ''betweenness'' (or ''being between''). Any particular dog, red thing, or object that is between other things is not a universal, however, but is an ''instance'' of a universal. That is, a universal type (''doghood''), property (''redness''), or relation (''betweenness'') ''

inheres Inherence refers to Empedocles' idea that the qualities of matter come from the relative proportions of each of the four elements entering into a thing. The idea was further developed by Plato and Aristotle. Overview That Plato accepted ...

'' in a particular object (a specific dog, red thing, or object between other things).

Platonic realism

Platonic realism holds universals to be the referents of general terms, such as the ''

'', nonphysical, non-mental entities to which words such as "sameness", "circularity", and "beauty" refer. Particulars are the referents of proper names, such as "Phaedo," or of definite descriptions that identify single objects, such as the phrase, "that hoe over there". Other metaphysical theories may use the terminology of universals to describe physical entities. Plato's examples of what we might today call universals included mathematical and geometrical ideas such as a circle and natural numbers as universals. Plato's views on universals did, however, vary across several different discussions. In some cases, Plato spoke as if the perfect circle functioned as the

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: * Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter dat ...

or blueprint for all copies and for the word definition of ''circle''. In other discussions, Plato describes particulars as "participating" in the associated universal. Contemporary realists agree with the thesis that universals are multiply-exemplifiable entities. Examples include by D. M. Armstrong, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Reinhardt Grossmann, Michael Loux.

Nominalism

Nominalists hold that universals are not real mind-independent entities but either merely concepts (sometimes called "conceptualism") or merely names. Nominalists typically argue that properties are abstract particulars (like tropes) rather than universals. JP Moreland distinguishes between "extreme" and "moderate" nominalism. Examples of nominalists include the medieval philosophers Roscelin of Compiègne and

William of Ockham William of Ockham, OFM (; also Occam, from la, Gulielmus Occamus; 1287 – 10 April 1347) was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, apologist, and Catholic theologian, who is believed to have been born in Ockham, a small vi ...

and contemporary philosophers W. V. O. Quine, Wilfred Sellars, D. C. Williams, and Keith Campbell.

Ness-ity-hood principle

The ness-ity-hood principle is used mainly by English-speaking philosophers to generate convenient, concise names for universals or properties.Feldman (2005), p. 25. According to the Ness-Ity-Hood Principle, a name for any universal may be formed by taking the name of the predicate and adding the suffix "ness", "ity", or "hood". For example, the universal that is distinctive of left-handers may be formed by taking the predicate "left-handed" and adding "ness", which yields the name "left-handedness". The principle is most helpful in cases where there is not an established or standard name of the universal in ordinary English usage: What is the name of the universal distinctive of chairs? "Chair" in English is used not only as a subject (as in "The chair is broken"), but also as a predicate (as in "That is a chair"). So to generate a name for the universal distinctive of chairs, take the predicate "chair" and add "ness", which yields "chairness".

Notes

References

* Feldman, Fred (2005). "The Open Question Argument: What It Isn't; and What It Is", ''Philosophical Issues'' 15, ''Normativity''. * Loux, Michael J. (1998). ''Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction'', N.Y.: Routledge. * Loux, Michael J. (2001). "The Problem of Universals" in ''Metaphysics: Contemporary Readings'', Michael J. Loux (ed.), N.Y.: Routledge, pp. 3–13. * MacLeod, M. & Rubenstein, E. (2006). "Universals", ''The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', J. Fieser & B. Dowden (eds.).
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* Moreland, J. P. (2001). ''Universals'', McGill-Queen's University Press/Acumen. * Price, H. H. (1953). "Universals and Resemblance", Ch. 1 of ''Thinking and Experience'', Hutchinson's University Library. * Rodriguez-Pereyra, Gonzalo (2008). "Nominalism in Metaphysics", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
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External links

Chrysippus – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Chrysippus – Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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