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Single Idea 6487

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 1. Universals ]

Full Idea

None of Locke, Berkeley or Hume shows any sign of serious thinking about the relation of their concepts of quality, idea or impression to the problem of universals; it is as if they thought this issue had disappeared.

Gist of Idea

Locke, Berkeley and Hume did no serious thinking about universals

Source

comment on John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694]) by Howard Robinson - Perception 1.4

Book Ref

Robinson,Howard: 'Perception' [Routledge 2001], p.12

A Reaction

Maybe they were right. Personally I think there is a real problem of universals, but the history of philosophy has lots of cases of deep worries about problems that don't seem to bother anyone else.

The 37 ideas with the same theme [single concepts applying to many things]:

11379 Substance is not a universal, as the former is particular but a universal is shared [Aristotle]
12096 Universals are indeterminate and only known in potential, because they are general [Aristotle, by Witt]
15034 Are genera and species real or conceptual? bodies or incorporeal? in sensibles or separate from them? [Porphyry]
5016 Five universals: genus, species, difference, property, accident [Descartes]
6487 Locke, Berkeley and Hume did no serious thinking about universals [Robinson,H on Locke]
10533 We can't get a semantics from nouns and predicates referring to the same thing [Frege, by Dummett]
5383 Every complete sentence must contain at least one word (a verb) which stands for a universal [Russell]
4428 Propositions express relations (prepositions and verbs) as well as properties (nouns and adjectives) [Russell]
5406 Confused views of reality result from thinking that only nouns and adjectives represent universals [Russell]
4479 All universals are like the relation "is north of", in having no physical location at all [Russell, by Loux]
8495 The distinction between particulars and universals is a mistake made because of language [Ramsey]
8493 We could make universals collections of particulars, or particulars collections of their qualities [Ramsey]
1612 Realism, conceptualism and nominalism in medieval universals reappear in maths as logicism, intuitionism and formalism [Quine]
8506 Particulars and properties are distinguishable, but too close to speak of a relation [Armstrong]
4448 Should we decide which universals exist a priori (through words), or a posteriori (through science)? [Armstrong]
17678 Universals are just the repeatable features of a world [Armstrong]
13573 Universals are all types of natural kind [Ellis]
13572 There are 'substantive' (objects of some kind), 'dynamic' (events of some kind) and 'property' universals [Ellis]
10532 We can understand universals by studying predication [Dummett]
10488 It is lunacy to think we only see ink-marks, and not word-types [Boolos]
15453 The main rivals to universals are resemblance or natural-class nominalism, or sparse trope theory [Lewis]
15746 If particles were just made of universals, similar particles would be the same particle [Lewis]
15745 Universals recur, are multiply located, wholly present, make things overlap, and are held in common [Lewis]
8569 I suspend judgements about universals, but their work must be done [Lewis]
8502 Realism doesn't explain 'a is F' any further by saying it is 'a has F-ness' [Devitt]
10472 'Structural universals' methane and butane are made of the same universals, carbon and hydrogen [Oliver]
4477 Universals come in hierarchies of generality [Loux]
4481 Austere nominalists insist that the realist's universals lack the requisite independent identifiability [Loux]
8288 Sortal terms for universals involve a substance, whereas adjectival terms do not [Lowe]
4197 The category of universals can be sub-divided into properties and relations [Lowe]
10402 Various attempts are made to evade universals being wholly present in different places [Swoyer]
10318 Realists take universals to be the referrents of both adjectives and of nouns [Hale]
10511 It is doubtful if one entity, a universal, can be picked out by both predicates and abstract nouns [Hale]
10521 If F can't have location, there is no problem of things having F in different locations [Hale]
4451 If properties are universals, what distinguishes two things which have identical properties? [Moreland]
4453 One realism is one-over-many, which may be the model/copy view, which has the Third Man problem [Moreland]
4464 Realists see properties as universals, which are single abstract entities which are multiply exemplifiable [Moreland]