Universals - what is it? Examples

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

Universals are broad concepts that include many similar items. This is how dictionaries are written. Almost nothing is clear from the definition. Let's put everything on the shelves and finally understand this concept.

In philosophy

Examples of universals can be such concepts as "planet", "plant", "human" and many, many others.

Medieval philosophers discussed the question of whether universals actually exist as phenomena or things, and not just in words. If their existence is just our imagination, then they only exist in our heads. For example, there is no such plant that would combine all the plants on earth (can you imagine what kind of "elkoromashkoplantain" it would be?). Certain types of plants, of course, exist, we see them and can feel them, but the word "plant" itself was invented by people in order to combine flowers, herbs, trees, etc. common name.

Plato suggested looking at this issue from a different angle. He believed that the common name actually exists, but in a higher world invisible to the human eye. All concrete things are creations of the universal. Medieval philosophers who held the same concept began to call themselves realists (because they believed that universals are real).

Philosophers, who believed that universals are just names, names that unite a group of objects with similar characteristics, considered themselves nominalists (nomina is translated from Latin as a name, name).

Philosophy of the Middle Ages - realism. Nominalism appeared later, already at the end of the Middle Ages, on the "peeping dawn" of the Renaissance.

Realism

Medieval realism had two forms: extreme and moderate.

Extreme realists argued that universals appeared before things in a world inaccessible to perception. And all objects that exist on earth are derivatives of one or another universal - an eternal idea that generates things.

You probably already guessed that Plato was just an extreme realist.

Moderate realists held to the idea that universals are the foundations of any thing; they exist in the objects themselves. The world of universals and the world of objects are inseparable from each other. Any thing contains some kind of universal, which makes it a thing, without it it would be just formless matter. Moderate realism stems from the ideas of Aristotle.

Nominalism

Nominalism has the same forms as realism.

Moderate nominalists believed that universals persist in consciousness when things no longer exist. They remain there in the form of concepts - generalizednames of items. Concepts do not objectively exist (after all, we cannot pick them up, feel them), but it is with the help of words and terms that we can break reality into different areas and spheres. This makes it much easier to navigate and explore the world. Moderate nominalism is also called conceptualism (conceptus from Latin - idea, thought).

Extreme nominalists believed that general concepts are absolutely meaningless, they should not be spoken or thought about, because they do not exist. For example, we have a specific plant in front of us. We can see it, touch it, study its properties, in fact, like any other object that really exists. What is a plant in general? This is just a word that does not denote any real object, so such general concepts should be completely abandoned, using only the names of specific objects.

Universals in philosophy is a very complex issue, thinking about which can lead to unexpected conclusions. For example, consider whether friendship or love actually exists. Is it all real, or is it just our imagination?

Language universals

In linguistics, universals are properties of all or most languages.

The following aspects are considered in the theory of language universals:

1. Differences and similarities between human language and animal language.
2. Similarities and differences of languages of different peoples.
3. Meaningful categories in various languages (for example, in all languages singular and plural are denoted in some way).
4. Properties of structureslanguage (for example, division into phonemes).

Types of language universals

There are a huge number of types (classes) of language universals.

• According to the nature of the statement, complete or absolute (not implying exceptions) and incomplete or statistical (allowing them) are distinguished. For example, a complete universal: all languages have vowel sounds. Incomplete universality: almost all languages have nasal consonants.
• Based on the logical form, there are simple (asserting the existence of a phenomenon) and implicative universals (containing a condition that emphasizes the relationship of phenomena. An example of a simple universal: in every language there is a phenomenon Y. An example of an implicative universal: if in a language is Y, then there must be X, and the first depends on the second.
• There are quantitative and non-quantitative universals. Quantitatives report some quantitative pattern. For example: in any language, the number of phonemes is no more than 85. All other universals are called non-quantitative.
• Depending on the language level of the term, symbolic, semantic, lexical, syntactic, morphological, phonological universals are distinguished.

Cultural

Cultural universals are concepts that express features of phenomena found in all cultures.

Many sources say that cultural universals include such characteristics of cultural experience that reflect the picture of the world of allpeoples.

But the concept of the picture of the world is too vague, so let's put it a little easier.

What researchers refer to as cultural universals is a common characteristic for representatives of any culture, no matter what continent they live on.

List of cultural universals

The American anthropologist George Murdoch in 1959 identified more than 7 dozen universals common to all cultures: from jewelry and gifts to sexual restrictions, punitive sanctions and burial rites.

Why do people who have never met each other have so much in common? The answer is simple. Physically, all people are arranged in the same way, therefore, the needs of all are identical, the environment poses the same problems for everyone, and the ways to solve them are also similar.

All people are born and then die, so the customs associated with death and birth are present in every culture. Pregnant women, children and the elderly are present in any society, so there are also universals associated with these categories of people in any society.

Clyde Kluckhohn, an American sociologist and culturologist, proposed adding two more universals to Murdoch's list. He believed that all peoples have the same way of thinking and values. In any society, it is forbidden to kill, to lie, and nowhere is the infliction of pain or suffering approved.

Cultural patterns

Shortened the list of universals, or rather structured it by the American anthropologist Clark Wissler. He singled out 9culture patterns:

• family;
• speech;
• mythology and scientific knowledge;
• art;
• religious practices;
• material similarities;
• government;
• property;
• war.

The culture of different nations can be built around one of these themes, but others will still be visible or invisibly present in the life of any society.

The concept of universal is multifaceted and is used in various fields and areas of science and life. Be that as it may, universals are always certain similarities. The Latin word universalis (general) is not in vain the etymological "father" of this term.