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2 ideas
13795 | Properties only have identity in the context of their contraries [Elder] |
Full Idea: The very being, the identity, of any property consists at least in part in its contrasting as it does with its own proper contraries. | |
From: Crawford L. Elder (Real Natures and Familiar Objects [2004], 2.4) | |
A reaction: See Elder for the details of this, but the idea that properties can only be individuated contextually sounds promising. |
5869 | The thesis of the Form of the Good (or of anything else) is verbal and vacuous [Aristotle] |
Full Idea: The thesis that there is a Form either of good or indeed of anything else is verbal and vacuous. | |
From: Aristotle (Eudemian Ethics [c.333 BCE], 1217b20) | |
A reaction: This is clear evidence for suggesting that Aristotle is a nominalist. Elsewhere his essentialism suggests otherwise, but clearly on grumpy days he thought that universals were mere verbal conventions. |