Full Idea
I base my case for realism about universals on the need to explain the status of natural laws.
Gist of Idea
Real universals are needed to explain laws of nature
Source
E.J. Lowe (The Possibility of Metaphysics [1998], 9.6)
Book Reference
Lowe,E.J.: 'The Possibility of Metaphysics' [OUP 2001], p.203
A Reaction
I need black magic to explain why my watch has disappeared. The key question, then, would be what we understand by the 'laws of nature'. I am inclined to think that scientific essentialism (qv) can build laws out of natural kinds. Idea 6614.
Related Idea
Idea 6614 A hierarchy of natural kinds is elaborate ontology, but needed to explain natural laws [Ellis]