Aristotle's Posterior Analytics distinguishes demonstrative knowledge of universals from explanatory knowledge of particulars, showing universal-to-instance inference is non-trivial.
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"Posterior Analytics" is a work by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle about how we gain knowledge through logical reasoning and proof. In it, Aristotle explains how we can be certain about facts by building arguments from basic truths we already accept, similar to how a math proof starts with simple facts and builds up to more complex ones. The book became foundational to Western thinking about how science and knowledge work.
Universal-to-instance inference(the type of reasoning being analyzed)
The logical process of taking a general rule and applying it to a specific case—like going from 'all dogs are animals' to 'Fido is an animal.'
knowledge(Distinguished from mere true belief, which may be the product of indoctrination and need not exercise deliberative capacities.)
Justified true belief — true belief that has been arrived at through the exercise of deliberative capacities, including comparison of and deliberation among alternatives.
The actual objects of the world that are directly accessible only through perception and are ineffable — they cannot be captured or referred to by words
universals(Debated in Lefèvre's Disceptatio de universali between two students of Chrysippus's academy)
Either what particular classes of things share, or what those who reason say they share (decided by convention)