Metaphysics · The status of universals

Realism about universals

There are properties that distinct particulars literally share.

What it claims

Realism about universals holds that different particulars can instantiate one and the same property. Two electrons with the same charge do not merely possess two resembling qualities: they instantiate a common universal. The one-over-many argument asks what explains their sameness and proposes one shared entity.

Nearby positions

Goes together with
Idealism

Key thinkers

Plato · Bertrand Russell · D. M. Armstrong · Michael Tooley