Philosophical question of whether properties exist and, if so, what they are
Boethius teaching his students
The problem of universals is an ancient question from metaphysics that has inspired a range of philosophical topics and disputes: "Should the properties an object has in common with other objects, such as color and shape, be considered to exist beyond those objects? And if a property exists separately from objects, what is the nature of that existence?"[1]
The problem of universals relates to various inquiries closely related to metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, as far back as Plato and Aristotle, in efforts to define the mental connections a human makes when they understand a property such as shape or color to be the same in nonidentical objects.[2]
Universals are qualities or relations found in two or more entities.[3] As an example, if all cup holders are circular in some way, circularity may be considered a universal property of cup holders.[4] Further, if two daughters can be considered female offspring of Frank, the qualities of being female, offspring, and of Frank, are universal properties of the two daughters. Many properties can be universal: being human, red, male or female, liquid or solid, big or small, etc.[5]
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Philosophers agree that human beings can talk and think about universals, but disagree on whether universals exist in reality beyond mere thought and speech.
^Moreland, J.P. (2001). Universals. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0773522697.
^Klima, Gyula (2017), "The Medieval Problem of Universals", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2019-02-26
^Rodriguez-Pereyra, Gonzalo (2002). Resemblance Nominalism: A Solution to the Problem of Universals. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-19-924377-8.
^Loux (1998), p. 20; (2001), p. 3
^Loux (2001), p. 4
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and think about universals, but disagree on whether universals exist in reality beyond mere thought and speech. The problemofuniversals is considered...
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realism or Scotist formalism) is the Scotist position on the problemofuniversals. It is a form of moderate realism, which is sometimes referred to as 'scholastic...
point of controversy in philosophy. Nonetheless, it is considered to be a classical solution to the problemofuniversals. The original meaning of the term...
whether these universals exist in reality or merely in thought, speech and sight. Related to the problemofuniversals, the principle of individuation...
the problem of universals consists in the challenge of characterizing the ontological status ofuniversals. Realists argue that universals are real, mind-independent...
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is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problemofuniversals. He was decisively...
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introduces the issue ofuniversals here. Chapters 18–25 deal with the five predicables of Porphyry. Chapters 26–62 deal with the Categories of Aristotle, known...
philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who holds that universals have no connection with things as they are in themselves because they (universals) are exclusively...
is described as incorporeal if it is not made out of matter. In the problemofuniversals, universals are separable from any particular embodiment in one...
fundamental. Particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with universals. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars...
BC, in Aristotle's Peri Hermeneias. The Triangle relates to the problemofuniversals, a philosophical debate which split ancient and medieval philosophers...
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kinds ofuniversals: absolute (opposite: statistical, often called tendencies) and implicational (opposite: non-implicational). Absolute universals apply...
historic problemofuniversals, describes how the theory can be extended to complex cases, and outlines how it applies to other issues in the theory of knowledge...
relativist perspective may deny the existence of cultural universals: the extent to which these universals are "cultural" in the narrow sense, or in fact...
metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with universals. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars...
emotions associated with it, an idea also intensively discussed in the problemofuniversals debate where Peter Abelard and others used the rose as an example...
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