271:, a prominent Australian philosopher, argues, that there are instantiated universals, like Russell and the middle Plato. An instantiated universal is a property (such as being green) that can exist in multiple locations at the same time. Going back to the problem of universals, for six different objects to all be green would be for each object to instantiate the universal green. The very same, identical universal green, would be wholly located at each green object. To be even more specific, if a frog and a leaf are the same shade of green, the green of the frog and the green of the leaf are one and the same entity (qua green-ness), which happens to be multiply located.
281:, among others, reject instantiated universals in favor of tropes. A trope is a property (such as being green) that can only exist in one location at one time. Trope theorists explain what it is for two tokens (individual instances) to be of the same type in terms of resemblance. As an example, for six different objects to all be green would be for each object to have its own distinct green trope. Each green trope would be a different entity from the other green tropes, but they would
262:(1912, chapter IX) argued against Berkeley and took the same basic position as Plato. His argument was basically one against any form of nominalism. It says, briefly, that if we introduce several instances of green as separate individuals, we nevertheless have to accept that the reason that we group them together is because they are similar. Therefore, we must presume at least one true universal, that of similarity.
183:". Somehow the form of a specific color creates many secondary images of itself, as when a prototype is used to make copies or an object casts several shadows. Expressed more abstractly, the individual colour-instances (the green of a leaf, the similar green of a frog) all partake in the same idea of green. In Plato the
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to denote specific perceptions of an atomistic nature. They could be grouped through similarities or one could take a specific instance, for example, the green hue of a frog one is looking at now, as a kind of paradigm case or prototype, and regard everything that was similar to it as belonging to
221:. Here the thesis is that universals such as the ideas or forms of Plato are unnecessary in an explanation of language, thought and the world. Only single individuals are real, but they can be grouped together by a human observer through their similarities. Nominalists are usually
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in "Truth-Makers" (1984). According to this theory, it is tropes — including both individual qualities and events — that serve as the truthmakers for true atomic sentences such as "John is hot" or "Mary is loved by John" or "John kicked Bill".
146:. One part of the problem of universals is determining what it is for two tokens (or separate instances of something) to be of the same type. How different things can be the same. The arguments are complex, and involve
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dialogue himself formulated several problems for his view. One is: How the idea can, being single, nevertheless be present in a multitude of separate instances without being split apart.
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for any property. These forms exist timelessly as singular, perfect individuals in a metaphysical (timeless, supra-sensible) world of their own. They correspond to what is later called "
131:. Here, a trope is a particular instance of a property, like the redness of a particular rose, or the specific nuance of green of a specific individual leaf. Trope theories assume that
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Two popular recent solutions to the problem of universals, as it relates to the possibility of entities existing in multiple locations at the same time, are as follows.
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53:), "to turn, to direct, to alter, to change"; this means that the term is used metaphorically to denote, among other things, metaphorical language.
139:(1953). The basic problem has been discussed previously in philosophy without using the term "trope". The following is a brief background:
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The term is also used in technical senses, which do not always correspond to its linguistic origin. Its meaning has to be judged from the
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the same type or category. One attraction of the nominalistic program is that if it can be carried out it solves Plato's problem in
366:— rather than figures of style — underlying the historian's writing of history. They are historically determined in as much as the
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tradition, a metaphysical doctrine embracing both tropes and the objects on which the tropes depend was elaborated by
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Here a trope is a figurative and metaphorical use of a word or a phrase. The verb
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This article is about the philosophical term "trope". For other uses, see
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503:(2018). "Trope Theory and the Unsustainable Lightness of Being", in
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as a crowning work. According to this solution there are ideas or
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For Hayden White, tropes historically unfolded in this sequence:
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Philosophical
Semantics: Reintegrating Theoretical Philosophy
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318:) in this respect were used as the basis for the theory of
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Williams, D. C. (1953). "On the
Elements of Being: II.",
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of every period is defined by a specific type of trope.
248:, since the need for a single idea or form or universal
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entry by Mary C. MacLeod and Eric M. Rubenstein in the
507:, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
135:are unnecessary. This use of the term goes back to
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237:using nominalistic arguments. He used the term
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252:then vanishes and it can be expunged through
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479:Mulligan, K., Simons, P. M. and Smith B., "
302:(1900–01), as part of what Husserl called "
459:Weiner, E. S. C.; Simpson, J. A. (1992),
362:are generally understood to be styles of
543:(1953). "On the Elements of Being: I.",
485:Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
94:." There are two sets of these tropes:
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463:, New York: Clarendon Press, p. 581,
461:The Compact Oxford English Dictionary
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608:Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
595:Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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165:as found in the middle period of
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517:, 2nd ed. N.Y., Harper and Row.
513:(1961). "On What There is", in
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72:means then to make a trope.
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169:'s philosophy, with the
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399:Trope (disambiguation)
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310:" in his terminology;
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552:Review of Metaphysics
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354:in his
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312:German
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588:. In
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