Philosophy, Terms and Concepts

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Further reading

universals

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2011 | Copyright

universals in philosophy, term applied to general or abstract objects such as concepts, qualities, relations, and numbers, as opposed to particular objects. The exact nature of a universal deeply concerned thinkers in the Middle Ages. The extreme realists, following Plato, maintained that universals exist independently of both the human mind and particular things. In nominalism universals are considered arbitrary constructions of the human mind. In conceptualism universals exist only in the mind, as concepts, but they are not arbitrary, as they reflect similarities among particular things. Conceptualism led to the moderate realism of St. Thomas Aquinas and John of Salisbury.

Bibliography: See R. I. Aaron, Theory of Universals (2d ed. 1967); D. M. Armstrong, Universals and Scientific Realism (2 vol., 1980).

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universals

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | 2000 | | Copyright

universals. Abstract concepts, representing the common elements belonging to individuals of the same genus or species. The medieval doctrine of universals derived from Greek philosophy. According to their answer to the question whether universals were things (‘res’) or only names (‘nomina’), philosophers subscribed to the system of Realism or Nominalism (qq.v.).

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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "universals." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "universals." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-universals.html

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "universals." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-universals.html

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