Led by Plato
About this course
The fourth module of the Metaphysics paper takes up the problem of universals — one of the oldest and most stubborn in the subject. Many things are beautiful; many are human; many are triangles. What is the one character the many share, and is it a real thing?
It is led by Plato in his late period — the philosopher who gave the boldest answer, that the universal exists separately and perfectly as a Form, and who then, in the Parmenides, attacked that answer more fiercely than anyone since. No host can present realism with more authority or expose its wounds more honestly. The module states the Theory of Forms and its supporting arguments, turns the Third Man and the separation problem against it, and then sets beside it the two great rivals: Aristotle's immanent realism, on which the universal exists only in its instances, and nominalism, on which there are no universals at all, only particulars and the names or concepts we group them under.
The student leaves with the full map of the dispute — three positions, the jobs each must do, the price each pays — rather than a verdict, since the problem is, by Plato's own example, one to be held open. They read the Parmenides (Part I), the Phaedo, and Aristotle's critique of the Forms directly.
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Led by Plato
The question
When many things share a character — beauty, humanity, redness — is that shared character a real entity, and if so, what and where is it? Plato's Theory of Forms says it exists separately and perfectly, and particulars merely copy it; Aristotle says it is real but exists only in the things themselves; the nominalist says it does not exist at all, and only particulars and our words are real. The module gives each answer its strongest form, turns Plato's own devastating objections on the Forms, and asks the student to weigh what universals would explain against what believing in them would cost.