Part one of term paper
Boethius' Argument Against Universals In the essay “From His Second Commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge” Boethius discusses the existence of universals.. By proposing two main arguments, he first shows why a view such as that held by Plato (one claiming that universals exist independent of particulars and that a universal exis ...

Part two of term paper
... can exist wholly and entirely in each particular thing to which it is common. A universal is supposedly one entity existing in every particular to which it is common at all times. But Boethius argues that if it is to exist wholly in several things at one time, it cannot in itself be one entity. According to Boethius “everything that exists exists for the reason that it is one.” And therefore, if the universal is existing in several things at one time (and thus is not one in n ...