Universals
When we call many different things 'red' or 'triangles,' is there a single real thing — redness, triangularity — that they all share, or just a name we attach to the group?
Universals are the general kinds, properties, and relations that many particular things can share — like 'human,' 'whiteness,' or 'equality.' The 'problem of universals' asks whether such kinds genuinely exist in their own right or are merely names or concepts we apply. The debate's two ancient poles are Plato's realism, which treats universals as independent Forms (4th c. BCE), and Aristotle's view that they exist only within particular things. Porphyry's 'Isagoge' (3rd c. CE) sharpened the question into its canonical form, splitting medieval philosophy into realists, nominalists, and conceptualists.
How it traveled
- ParmenidesAthens · -370explains
- SophistAthens · -360explains
- PhilebusAthens · -355explains
- MetaphysicsChalcis · -322explains
- Analytica prioraChalcis · -322explains
- Nicomachean EthicsChalcis · -322explains
- TopicaChalcis · -322explains
- Adversus MathematicosAlexandria · 190explains
- Pyrrhoniae HypotyposesAlexandria · 210explains
- Vitae philosophorum— · 240explains
- EnneadesRome · 270explains
- Duties of the HeartZaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080
- Guide for the PerplexedCairo · 1190
- Sefer HaIkkarimSoria · 1425
- Akeidat YitzchakTarragona · 1490
- Abarbanel on TorahNaples · 1505
- Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)Cairo · 1523
- Mikdash Melekh, RaMaZ Commentary on ZoharTzfat · 1680
- Kalach Pitchei ChokhmahPadua · 1730
- Likutei HalakhotBreslov (Ukraine) · 1840
- Malbim on LeviticusBucharest · 1860
- Sulam on ZoharJerusalem · 1945
- In Porphyrii Isagogen Sive Quinque VocesAlexandriaexplains
- In Aristotelis Categorias CommentariusAlexandriaexplains
- Anonymi In Analyticorum Posteriorum Librum Alterum Commentarium—explains
- In Aristotelis Analyticorum Priorum Librum I CommentariumAthensexplains
- In Aristotelis Metaphysica CommentariaAthensexplains
- In Aristotelis Sophisticos Elenchos Commentarius [Sp.]—explains
- Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena)—explains
- Epistulae—explains
Key passages(20)
Quaestiones · Alexander of Aphrodisias
In Porphyrii Isagogen Sive Quinque Voces · Ammonius
Anonymi In Analyticorum Posteriorum Librum Alterum Commentarium · Anonymi In Aristotelis Librum Alterum Analyticorum Posteriorum
Testimonia et Fragmenta · Diogenes Babylonius
In Aristotelis Metaphysica Commentaria · Alexander of Aphrodisias
In Aristotelis Sophisticos Elenchos Commentarius [Sp.] · Pseudo-Alexander of Aphrodisias
In Aristotelis Categorias Commentarius · Ammonius
In Porphyrii Isagogen Sive Quinque Voces · Ammonius
In Porphyrii Isagogen Sive Quinque Voces · Ammonius
In Porphyrii Isagogen Sive Quinque Voces · Ammonius
In Porphyrii Isagogen Sive Quinque Voces · Ammonius
Adversus Mathematicos · Sextus Empiricus