Editing Problem of universals (section)

{{Short description|Philosophical question of whether properties exist and, if so, what they are}}
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[[File:Boethius initial consolation philosophy.jpg|thumb|[[Boethius]] teaching his students|262x262px]]

The '''problem of universals''' is an ancient question from [[metaphysics]] that has inspired a range of philosophical topics and disputes: "Should the [[property (philosophy)|properties]] an object has in common with other objects, such as color and shape, be considered to [[existence|exist]] beyond those objects? And if a property exists separately from objects, what is the nature of that existence?"<ref name="Moreland, Universals">{{cite book|last=Moreland|first=J.P.|title=Universals|year=2001|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=0773522697}}</ref>

The problem of universals relates to various inquiries closely related to metaphysics, [[logic]], and [[epistemology]], as far back as [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]], in efforts to define the mental connections a human makes when they understand a property such as shape or color to be the same in nonidentical objects.<ref name="Stanford Universals">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Klima|first=Gyula|article=The Medieval Problem of Universals|date=2017|article-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/universals-medieval/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Winter 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref>

Universals are [[Quality (philosophy)|qualities]] or [[relation (philosophy)|relations]] found in two or more entities.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rodriguez-Pereyra|first=Gonzalo|title=Resemblance Nominalism: A Solution to the Problem of Universals|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-19-924377-8|location=New York|pages=214}}</ref> As an example, if all cup holders are ''circular'' in some way, ''circularity'' may be considered a [[Universal (metaphysics)|universal]] property of cup holders.<ref>Loux (1998), p. 20; (2001), p. 3</ref> Further, if two daughters can be considered ''female offspring of Frank'', the qualities of being ''female'', ''offspring'', and ''of Frank'', are universal properties of the two daughters. Many properties can be universal: being human, red, male or female, liquid or solid, big or small, etc.<ref>Loux (2001), p. 4</ref>{{Scholasticism}}

Philosophers agree that human beings can talk and think about universals, but disagree on whether universals exist in [[reality]] beyond mere thought and speech.