Universal - Plenitude, Sparsity, Theories

universal

Table of Contents

Introduction
Platonic and Aristotelian realism
Medieval and early-modern nominalism
Plenitudinous theories and sparse theories
- Plenitudes from anti-idealism
  - The logical realism of Frege, Russell, and Moore
  - Nominalist criticism
- Plenitudes from abstract reference
- Sparse theories from natural classes
  - Universals as dispensable
  - Resemblance nominalism
  - Problems for resemblance nominalism
  - Trope nominalism
  - Possibilia
Universals and other entia non grata

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The distinction between plenitudinous and sparse theories of universals (a distinction that cuts across the distinction between Platonic and Aristotelian realism) did not become a major issue in philosophy until the 20th century. According to the plenitudinous view, there is a universal corresponding to almost every predicative expression in any language—including not only relatively natural predicates, such as “…is red,” “…is round,” and “…is a dog,” but also more-complex and less-natural predicates, such as “…is either red or round or a dog.” Sparse theories posit universals only for certain very special predicates, typically those used in the fundamental theories of ...(100 of 4952 words)

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