Russell On Platonic Universals

The first 200 words of this essay...

Russell On Platonic Universals

Russell On Platonic Universals

The consideration of Platonic universals consequently rouses controversy among philosophers. Thinkers like Bertrand

Russell and Thomas Hobbes contribute reflective explanations for the undeniable usage of question-begging ideas in language and

thought. While the deliberation of Platonic universals might seem to be fruitless and, at best, obscure to the layperson, it does

function as a critical foundation for metaphysics and epistemology. Whether a philosopher agrees or disagrees with the idea of

Platonic universals is irrelevant to the certain truth that he or she must form some opinion of them preceding most any philosophic

endeavor. To attempt to summarize Plato's theory of universals in a paragraph would do it a great injustice but a simple, working

definition of the theory is necessary to move any further. Plato's theory can be condensed as follows: A universal (or form) is an

independently existing, nonspatial, nontemporal "something" known only through thought and that cannot be known through the

senses; independently existing objects of thought; that which makes a particular thing uniquely and essentially what it is. In even

simpler terms, a universal would be