Philosophy Models

John Italos (c. 1025-1082) elaborated on a three-tiered model of universals:

Universals are:

• Universal In The Particulars;
• Universal Before Many Particulars;
• Universal After The Particulars

The following OntoUML diagram shows the main classes in this model:

CLASS	DESCRIPTION	RELATIONS
Universal	“Italos talks about the same three types of universals in the same order, but a certain detail of his account proves to be important. Italos, too, regards the universals before the many particulars the causes (aitia/prtourga ) and paradigms (paradeigm ata) of perceptible individuals, which hence cannot be predicated of them, are separable from them (christa ), and in God’s mind (para/en t the), perfectly accommodating in this way the requirements of Christian Dogma (p p . 7.15-19 ; 29-32); but, then, he presents the distinction between the universals in the particulars and the universals after the particulars in a different manner.”
UniversalBeforeTheParticulars	“the universals before the many particulars (pro t n poll n ), which are generally identified with the Platonic Ideas”	subkind of Universal; characterizes UniversalBeforeManyParticulars
UniversalInTheParticulars	“the universals in the particulars (en tois pollo is), which represent Aristotle’s notion of immanent forms”	subkind of the UniversalBeforeMany particulars; characterizes UniversalInTheParticulars
UniversalAfterTheParticulars	“the universals after the particulars (epi tois pollo is), which concepts or thoughts.”	subkind of UniversalInTheParticulars
Intelligible	“On the other hand, the universal after the particulars are intelligible in a certain way, most probably because they are acquired by our mind by abstraction and they also are perceptible in a certain way, most probably because they are acquired by abstraction of the common characteristics of perceptible individuals.”
Later-born; Be-predicated; Inseparable; Acquired-by-mind	“Italos claims (p . 8.1-14) that both the universals in the particulars and the universals after the particulars differ from the universals before the particulars, because they both are later-born than the perceptible individuals (husterogen), can be predicted of them (kat goroumena), are inseparable from them (achrista ), and are acquired by our mind by abstraction (k at ’ aph airesin ).”
Particular	A particular thing	characterizes Particular
Perceptible	Perceptible

Related posts in theory of Universals: [1.2.2], [1.3.1], [1.3.2], [2.5], [2.7.3], [4.3.1], [4.3.2], [4.4.1], [4.5.2], [4.9.8], [4.11], [4.15.6], [4.18.8]

Sources

• KATERINA IERODIAKONOU John Italos on Universals, 2010 Documenti E Studi Sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale 18:231-247 (2007) 

First published: 1/9/2022