![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Animals by the way cannot do that, on the standard medieval picture: they can only grasp particular properties and react appropriately, without thinking generically. In fact what he does is generalize from these particular features he can grasp with his senses, and produce ideas that are universal in scope (all two legged things, even those that exist only potentially). The two-leggedness of John is a particular quality and so is the distinct two-leggedness of Mary, so there is nothing universal out there, but these are cues that Tim can use when he does the groupings. The nominalist is able to say that the individual humans have various similarities: for instance each of them is two-legged, unlike the cherry trees and wolves (by the way what are your wolves eating? I am worried about the humans). Yes, that's exactly the sort of argument that motivates realism, but it is not quite so easy. A mouse clearly has the concepts of cat, water and cheese. Last note: Not only humans but other mammals can also perceive forms. We cannot do this without the forms, ie, the objects "telling us" somehow what they are. But to be able to do this we must have already succeeded in classifying some of the objects around us as "humans" and distinguished them from the rest. Let us return back to "we have humanity when we think all the humans indifferently". If the external objects themselves suggested to Tim how they should be grouped, then we arrive at realism. If the chosen grouping is a social convention which does not have any basis in the external world, the question is how such a social convention is formed. Where does timmy get his cues when he juct picks one particular grouping/naming among millions of possible ones? Actually, there is 11! possible groupings, but Tim will only pick one among them, and will discard the rest. Tim will never group one of the wolves, two of the cherry trees, John and one water spring together and give them a name. He will similarly give a common name to the four cherry trees and the two water springs. He will put a separate name on the three wolves, which in our language correspond to "wolf". In time, Tim will learn that John and Mary form a separate group, and put a name on them which in our language corresponds to "human". Take the assertion "when you are thinking about humanity, you are simply thinking about all the humans indifferently" (12:41)Īssume that there is an island in the middle of the sea on which there are eleven different objects: two persons: John and Mary, three wolves, four cherry trees, and two water springs.Īssume John and Mary had a son and they named him Tim. I found medieval nominalism impossible to understand. ![]()
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