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    Rodriguez-Pereyra's resemblance nominalism demonstrates t... — Carmelics
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    Supports→Nominalists can reject the One Over Many argument regardless of which nominalist view they adopt

    Rodriguez-Pereyra's resemblance nominalism demonstrates that the One Over Many can be dissolved by grounding predicate application in primitive resemblance relations among particulars.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Primitive resemblance avoids Plato's Third Man: we need not posit abstract universals if concrete particulars can directly resemble each other.
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    • 2.Resemblance nominalism respects ontological parsimony by reducing predicate truth to facts about particulars and their relations alone.
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    • 3.Many predicates ('is red', 'is spherical') naturally track resemblance classes without requiring commitment to abstract properties.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Resemblance itself threatens to become a universal: what makes two things resemble each other if not a shared respect or property?
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    • 2.Primitive resemblance cannot explain why some particulars resemble each other and others don't without invoking prior grounds.
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    • 3.Transitive predication chains ('a is red; red is a color') seem to require property-like relata that bare resemblance cannot provide.
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    Key Terms

    Predicate application(as what small differences supposedly cannot affect)
    The act of deciding whether a descriptive word actually applies to something or not—for example, whether calling someone 'bald' is accurate.
    Primitive resemblance relations(as the foundation of the theory)
    Basic, irreducible facts about how objects can look similar or alike to each other, without needing to be explained by anything deeper.
    Resemblance nominalism(metaphysics/philosophy of properties)
    A philosophical view that objects can be similar to each other without needing to share any deeper underlying properties—similarity is just a basic fact that doesn't need further explanation.
    Rodriguez-Pereyra(named as the originator of the principle being discussed)
    A contemporary philosopher who has written about how truth relates to what exists in the world.
    The One over Many problem(as a philosophical problem)
    A classic puzzle asking how many individual things can all share the same quality—for example, how can multiple red objects all be 'red' in the same way?
    grounding(Drawn from contemporary metaphysics; proposed as potentially applicable to understanding the foundations of legality.)
    A metaphysical relation in which some entities or facts are more foundational than others, providing a hierarchical structure of the world.
    nominalism(Metaphysics; opposed to realism about universals)
    The view that abstract entities such as properties or universals do not exist, and that predicative facts must be explained without appealing to such entities.
    particulars(Buddhist epistemology (pramāṇa theory))
    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

    Connections

    2 topics

    Truth & Knowledge1 linkedSkepticism1 linked

    Related

    Many predicates ('is red', 'is spherical') naturally track resemblance classes w...Nominalists can reject the One Over Many argument regardless of which nominalist...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    Primitive resemblance avoids Plato's Third Man: we need not posit abstract unive...
    Primitive resemblance cannot explain why some particulars resemble each other an...
    +3 moreShow less
    Resemblance itself threatens to become a universal: what makes two things resemb...Resemblance nominalism respects ontological parsimony by reducing predicate trut...Transitive predication chains ('a is red; red is a color') seem to require prope...