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Ideas for 'German Philosophy: a very short introduction', 'Could a computer ever understand?' and 'Posterior Analytics'

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18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 2. Abstracta by Selection
We learn primitives and universals by induction from perceptions [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: We must get to know the primitives by induction; for this is the way in which perception instils universals.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 100b04)
     A reaction: This statement is so strongly empirical it could have come from John Stuart Mill. The modern post-Fregean view of universals is essentially platonist - that they have a life and logic of their own, and their method of acquisition is irrelevant.