Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

7. Simple Splits and Mysterian

Splits!

‘Let no one when young delay to study philosophy, nor when he is old grow weary of the task; for nobody can come too early or too late to secure the health of his soul.’

Epicurus — Letter to Menoeceus

Let’s start off this chapter with a relatively simple ‘split’ in the world — the split between everyday objects and ‘universals’ — that is, common properties held amongst objects. The more difficult ‘splits’ that are explored in this chapter are really just derivatives from this simpler idea of universals.

Things that might serve as tables were given as an example in the last chapter. Calling something a table is to use the word ‘table’ as a universal. Sometimes a distinction is made between a universal that belongs to various things and a group of things that are either identical or that share some characteristic in common, and which are (at least, in principle) countable. Countable things are often referred to as a class, but for the discussion here the distinction between a class and a universal need not concern us. The same problems apply to

85