more from Cynthia Macdonald

Single Idea 7972

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 13. Tropes / a. Nature of tropes]

Full Idea

Trope 'Nominalism' is not a version of nominalism, because tropes are abstract particulars, rather than concrete particulars. Of course, a trope account of the relations between particulars and their properties has ramifications for concrete particulars.

Gist of Idea

Tropes are abstract particulars, not concrete particulars, so the theory is not nominalist

Source

Cynthia Macdonald (Varieties of Things [2005], Ch.6 n16)

Book Reference

Macdonald,Cynthia: 'Varieties of Things' [Blackwell 2005], p.255


A Reaction

Cf. Idea 7971. At this point the boundary between nominalist and realist theories seems to blur. Possibly that is bad news for tropes. Not many dilemmas can be solved by simply blurring the boundary.

Related Ideas

Idea 7971 Real Nominalism is only committed to concrete particulars, word-tokens, and (possibly) sets [Macdonald,C]

Idea 4444 One moderate nominalist view says that properties and relations exist, but they are particulars [Armstrong]