Universals

            Universals may or may not exist. They are the general forms, or ideas, behind everything that we experience in the corporeal world. The corporeal world is processed through our senses. The world of universals can only be accessed through the intellect. This is essentially the Platonic version of the universals, or ideals. Examples of ideals are the form, general idea, or species “cat,” as opposed to an actual example of a cat. The same could be said for chair, lamp, candle, shirt, and so on.

            Although I like Plato’s delineation of the ideals, as he refers to them, I agree neither with him nor with Aristotle about the nature of the ideals. I do not believe that they exist on earth in the forms that represent them, as Aristotle believed, or that they exist in a kind of Platonic heaven. I recognize that the idea behind them was a breakthrough in thinking, leading to Aristotle’s delineation of species by creating the idea of a genus, and I like that this concept has been used practically, but to think that an idea actually existing somewhere is frankly a little absurd. Numbers are examples of forms, so this is akin to saying that the number two actually exists somewhere. There are plenty of mathematicians who do believe this, and I find it a bit more plausible than the idea of “cat” existing somewhere, but I also believe that it is inaccurate.

            Abstract entities create a lot of problems because they are, by definition, hard to define and to pin down exactly, and because they can only be accessed through the intellect, it is impossible to actually prove anything about them. However, there are plenty of opinions on the forms, and I stay firm in mine. Universals are merely a fabrication of the mind, and although if we had never existed, two plus two would still equal four, it would not matter because there would not have been anyone to first create that idea.