What exists? Substance, universals, and particulars
Metaphysics starts with deceptively simple questions: what are things, and what do they all have in common?
Substance
A substance is what something fundamentally is, the thing that has properties and persists through change. A tree can lose its leaves and grow taller and still be the same tree; the leaves and height are properties, while the tree is the substance. Philosophers disagree about which things truly count as substances and how many basic kinds there are.
Monism, dualism, and pluralism
Monists hold that reality is ultimately one kind of thing, such as matter, mind, or a single all-encompassing substance. Dualists recognise two basic kinds, most famously mind and matter. Pluralists allow many. Each view has to explain how what we experience, from rocks to thoughts, fits into its picture of what fundamentally exists.
Universals and particulars
Two red apples are different objects, but they share redness. Realists about universals say redness is a real thing present in both apples. Nominalists reply that only particular things exist, and 'red' is just a name we give to things that resemble one another. The dispute shapes how we understand properties, laws of nature, and even mathematics.
Flashcard
The underlying thing that has properties and persists
Check your understanding
A philosopher says 'redness' is not a real thing, only a word for objects that resemble each other. This view is called: