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Single Idea 4439
[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 2. Resemblance Nominalism
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Full Idea
Resemblance Nominalists say that to have a property is to be a member of a class which is part of a network of resemblance relations with other classes of particulars. ..'Resemblance' is taken to be a primitive notion, though one that admits of degrees.
Gist of Idea
'Resemblance Nominalism' says properties are resemblances between classes of particulars
Source
David M. Armstrong (Universals [1995], p.503)
Book Ref
'A Companion to Metaphysics', ed/tr. Kim,Jaegwon/Sosa,Ernest [Blackwell 1995], p.503
A Reaction
Intuition suggests that this proposal has good prospects, as properties are neither identical, nor just particulars, but have a lot in common, which 'resemblance' captures. Hume saw resemblance as a 'primitive' process.
The
14 ideas
from 'Universals'
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4440
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'Resemblance Nominalism' finds that in practice the construction of resemblance classes is hard
[Armstrong]
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4439
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'Resemblance Nominalism' says properties are resemblances between classes of particulars
[Armstrong]
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4432
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'Concept Nominalism' says a 'universal' property is just a mental concept applied to lots of things
[Armstrong]
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4431
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'Predicate Nominalism' says that a 'universal' property is just a predicate applied to lots of things
[Armstrong]
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4433
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Concept and predicate nominalism miss out some predicates, and may be viciously regressive
[Armstrong]
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4436
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'Class Nominalism' may explain properties if we stick to 'natural' sets, and ignore random ones
[Armstrong]
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4434
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'Class Nominalism' says that properties or kinds are merely membership of a set (e.g. of white things)
[Armstrong]
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4435
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'Class Nominalism' cannot explain co-extensive properties, or sets with random members
[Armstrong]
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4437
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'Mereological Nominalism' sees whiteness as a huge white object consisting of all the white things
[Armstrong]
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4438
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'Mereological Nominalism' may work for whiteness, but it doesn't seem to work for squareness
[Armstrong]
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4444
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One moderate nominalist view says that properties and relations exist, but they are particulars
[Armstrong]
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4445
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If properties and relations are particulars, there is still the problem of how to classify and group them
[Armstrong]
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4446
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It is claimed that some universals are not exemplified by any particular, so must exist separately
[Armstrong]
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4448
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Should we decide which universals exist a priori (through words), or a posteriori (through science)?
[Armstrong]
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