Single Idea 18529

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / A. Relations / 1. Nature of Relations]

Full Idea

Socrates and Plato are similar if they are both white. Yet the mind can express this either by an 'absolute concept' (as 'Socrates is white' and 'Plato is white'), or by a 'relative concept', as 'Socrates is similar to Plato with respect to whiteness.

Gist of Idea

Relations are expressed either as absolute facts, or by a relational concept

Source

William of Ockham (Seven Quodlibets [1332], VI q.25), quoted by John Heil - The Universe as We Find It 7

Book Reference

Heil,John: 'The Universe as We Find It' [OUP 2012], p.135


A Reaction

Presumably he takes the facts of the matter to be the absolute concept, and the relative concept to be a contribution of the intellect.