Full Idea
My contention is that similarity among modes can do the job universals are conventionally postulated to do.
Clarification
'Modes' are (roughly) tropes, which are particular instances of properties
Gist of Idea
Similarity among modes will explain everthing universals were for
Source
John Heil (From an Ontological Point of View [2003], Intro)
Book Reference
Heil,John: 'From an Ontological Point of View' [OUP 2005], p.12
A Reaction
See Idea 4441 for Russell's nice objection to this view. The very process by which we observes similarities (as assess their degrees) needs to be explained by any adequate theory of properties or universals.
Related Idea
Idea 4441 'Resemblance Nominalism' won't work, because the theory treats resemblance itself as a universal [Russell]