Full Idea
On the 'pictorial' conception, a structural universal is isomorphic to its instances. ...It is an individual, a mereological composite, not a set. ...It is composed of simpler universals which are literally parts of it.
Gist of Idea
The 'pictorial' view of structural universals says they are wholes made of universals as parts
Source
David Lewis (Against Structural Universals [1986], 'The pictorial')
Book Reference
Lewis,David: 'Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology' [CUP 1999], p.90
A Reaction
I'm not clear why Lewis labels this the 'pictorial' view. His other two views of structural universals are 'linguistic' and 'magical'. The linguistic is obviously wrong, and the magical doesn't sound promising. Must I vote for pictorial?
Related Idea
Idea 15441 The structural universal 'methane' needs the universal 'hydrogen' four times over [Lewis]