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Full Idea
Nominalists have been very concerned to provide an account of the role of abstract singular terms (such as 'circularity').
Gist of Idea
Nominalism needs to account for abstract singular terms like 'circularity'.
Source
Michael J. Loux (Metaphysics: contemporary introduction [1998], p.34)
Book Ref
Loux,Michael J.: 'Metaphysics: a contemporary introduction' [Routledge 2000], p.34
A Reaction
Whether this is a big problem depends on our view of abstraction. If it only consists of selecting one property of an object and reifying it, then we can give a nominalist account of properties, and the problem is solved.
| 4477 | Universals come in hierarchies of generality [Loux] |
| 4478 | Nominalism needs to account for abstract singular terms like 'circularity'. [Loux] |
| 4480 | Times and places are identified by objects, so cannot be used in a theory of object-identity [Loux] |
| 4481 | Austere nominalists insist that the realist's universals lack the requisite independent identifiability [Loux] |
| 4482 | Austere nominalism has to take a host of things (like being red, or human) as primitive [Loux] |
| 4483 | If abstract terms are sets of tropes, 'being a unicorn' and 'being a griffin' turn out identical [Loux] |