Single Idea 9485

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 2. Need for Universals]

Full Idea

Shoemaker contends that universals concern the way things could be, not merely the way any things actually are.

Gist of Idea

Universals concern how things are, and how they could be

Source

report of Sydney Shoemaker (Causality and Properties [1980]) by Alexander Bird - Nature's Metaphysics 3.2.2

Book Reference

Bird,Alexander: 'Nature's Metaphysics' [OUP 2007], p.53


A Reaction

If you want to retain universals within a scientific essentialist view (and I would rather not), then this seems like the only way to go.