PHL 3305 Lecture 13

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Universals

universal (n., sing) something that is one and at the same time common to many
- not classes, collections, or sets; but the concept of "universality" is prior to all of these
- e.g. "triangle" in the sense that it embodies "three-sided-ness", thus every three-sided figure is a triangle
- universal name a name that expresses what is common to many things

A predicable is a relation that describes how something relates to other things.

Porphyry enumerates five predicables:

essential universal predicates (what is it?)	1. genus
	2. species
	3. (specific) difference
non-essential universal predicates (what belongs in some way to a thing?)	4. property
	5. accident

A genus is a collection of things related in two senses:

Composable: a genus can extend from a "super-genus"

summum genus: a top-level genus that is "supremely general" or all-encompassing such that there is no higher genus

A species is an element of a genus

Could be a sub-genus (e.g. man as a kind of animal, where man = species and animal = genus)

At the lowest level, we have individuals that belong to an infima species (e.g., Shamu is an orca)

infima species: the smallest element of a genus that cannot be further specified

Three senses

"general" sense: different in some "otherness" compared to itself or something else
- Socrates is different from Plato (both men, but different men)
- Old Socrates is different from boy Socrates (both Socrates, but different ages)
"proper" sense: of a different sort/type/kind
"most proper" sense: makes it a different thing altogether.

Differences may be either separable or inseparable:

separable differences are things that change in an individual over time that may be "separated" at any time under the right conditions.
- Example: moving or at rest, healthy or sick
inseparable differences are permanently attached to that thing's existence
- essential are a part of what it means to be a particular thing
  - Example: in relation to man: to be logical, to be mortal, to be capable of knowledge
- incidental are not part of "what it is to be a ..."
  - Example: in relation to man: to have a certain eye color, to have a certain nose shape, to have a certain skin color

specific difference: an inseparable difference in the most proper sense; a difference that is "assumed in the definition of the substance and make it a different thing"; Example: Man is a type of animal, but so are horses, dogs, etc. However, unlike other animals, man is rational. Thus, rationality is a specific difference relating man to animals (see table below).

A property is something that applies to a certain species as a result of its nature

Properties do not answer the question "what is it?"

Note: Porphyry points out four senses, but only the strictest sense will be used in our studies:

Four "senses" of what might be considered a property: That which happens to...

("loosest") a certain species alone, but not to all of it
- Example: some humans become doctors, but not all humans.
all of a species, though not to that species alone
- Example: humans have two legs, but other species have two legs
all of a species and to that species alone and at certain times
- Example: all humans "turn grey in old age" (although it could be argued that other animals might lose pigmentation with age)
("strictest") all of a species and to that species alone and at all times
- Example: humans have the ability to laugh... (note this does not refer to the state of laughing, but the ability alone)

An accident is that which comes to be and passes away without the destruction of the subject.

A "catch-all": something that is not any of the other predicables must be an accident.

separable
- Example: e.g., to sleep
inseperable
- an accident that is intrinsic to something's nature
- Example: 'to be black' as it relates to the crow