Single Idea 4431

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 3. Predicate Nominalism]

Full Idea

For a Predicate Nominalist different things have the same property, or belong to the same kind, if the same predicates applies to, or is 'true of', the different things.

Clarification

A 'predicate' is the part of a sentence which says something about its subject

Gist of Idea

'Predicate Nominalism' says that a 'universal' property is just a predicate applied to lots of things

Source

David M. Armstrong (Universals [1995], p.503)

Book Reference

'A Companion to Metaphysics', ed/tr. Kim,Jaegwon/Sosa,Ernest [Blackwell 1995], p.503


A Reaction

This immediately strikes me as unlikely, because I think the action is at the proposition level, not the sentence level. And why do some predicates seem to be synonymous?