Full Idea
Modern upholders of universals generally reject self-predication; humanity is not a man, whiteness is not a white thing. This means that the Third Man argument does not constitute a difficulty.
Gist of Idea
Most thinkers now reject self-predication (whiteness is NOT white) so there is no Third Man problem
Source
David M. Armstrong (Universals and Particulars [1995], p.506)
Book Reference
'A Companion to Metaphysics', ed/tr. Kim,Jaegwon/Sosa,Ernest [Blackwell 1995], p.506
A Reaction
This certainly seems right, and is relevant to the modern problem of the content of thought. The idea of a tree does not need to be tree-like.