Editing Problem of universals (section)

===Realism<!--Linked from 'Philosophical realism'-->===
{{main|Metaphysical realism}}
The school of realism makes the claim that universals are real and that they exist distinctly, apart from the particulars that instantiate them. Two major forms of metaphysical realism are [[Platonic realism]] (''universalia ante res''), meaning "'universals before things'"<ref name="Stanford Universals" /> and Aristotelian realism (''universalia in rebus''), meaning "'universals in things'".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Orilia|first1=Francesco|article=Properties|date=2017|article-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/properties/|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|last2=Swoyer|first2=Chris}}</ref> ''Platonic realism'' is the view that universals are real entities existing independent of particulars. ''Aristotelian realism'', on the other hand, is the view that universals are real entities, but their existence is dependent on the particulars that exemplify them.

Realists tend to argue that universals must be posited as distinct entities in order to account for various phenomena. A common realist argument said to be found in Plato's writings, is that universals are required for certain general words to have meaning and for the sentences in which they occur to be true or false. Take the sentence "[[Djivan Gasparyan]] is a musician" for instance. The realist may claim that this sentence is only meaningful and expresses a truth because there is an individual, Djivan Gasparyan, who possesses a certain quality: musicianship. Therefore, it is assumed that the property is a universal which is distinct from the particular individual who has the property.<ref>(MacLeod & Rubenstein, 2006, §1b)</ref>