- Published Online:
- 2017-03-28
- Published in Print:
- 2017-04-01
- Citation Information:
- Metaphysica, Volume 18, Issue 1, Pages 1–13, eISSN 1874-6373, ISSN 1437-2053, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mp-2017-0013.
In this paper I argue that the problems solved by universals require not merely that we know they exist but that we know them by acquaintance. I begin by explicating this thesis of acquaintance with universals. I then show how it solves some familiar problems. After that I reply to the objection that something weaker will do such as David Lewis’ distinction between natural and artificial classes of possibilia.
Armstrong, D. 1978. A Theory of Universals: Universals and Scientific Realism Volume II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bertrand, J. 1889. Calcul Des Ptobabilités. Paris: Gauthier-Villars et fils.
Colyvan, M., J. Garfield, and G. Priest. 2005. “Problems with the Argument from Fine-Tuning.” Synthese 145:325–338.
Forrest, P. 2005. “Universals as Sense-Data.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 71:622–631.
Goodman, N. 1983. Fact, Fiction, and Forecast. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hempel, C. 1945. “Studies in the Logic of Confirmation I.” Mind 54:1–26.
Jackson, F. 1975. “Grue.” The Journal of Philosophy 72:113–131.
Jaynes, E. 1973. “The Well-Posed Problem.” Foundations of Physics 3:477–493.
Kripke, S. 1982. Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lewis, D. 1983. “New Work for a Theory of Universals.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 61:343–377.
Lewis, D. 1984. “Putnam’s Paradox.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 62:221–236.
Maher, P. 1999. “Inductive Logic and the Ravens Paradox.” Philosophy of Science 66:50–70.
Putnam, H. 1978. Meaning and the Moral Sciences. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Quine, W.V.O. 1970. “Natural Kinds.” In Essays in Honour of Carl G Hempel, edited by N. Rescher et al, 5–23. D. Reidel, Dordrecht: Synthese Library.
Unger, P. 1999. “The Mystery of the Physical and the Matter of Qualities: A Paper for Professor Shaffer.” Midwest Studies In Philosophy 23:75–95.
Williamson, T. 1994. Vagueness. London: Routledge.