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The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Henry of Ghent, in his detailed account of the issue, provides an interesting answer to this question. Henry first distinguishes cognition of a true thing from the cognition of the truth of the thing. Since any really existing thing is truly what it is (even if it may on occasion appear something else), any cognition of any really existing thing is the cognition of a true thing. But cognition of a true thing may occur without the cognition of its truth, since the latter is the cognition that the thing adequately corresponds to its exemplar in the human or divine mind. For example, if I draw a circle, when a cat sees it, then it sees the real true thing as it is presented to it. Yet the cat is simply unable to judge whether it is a true circle in the sense that it really is what it is supposed to be, namely, a locus of points equidistant from a given point. By contrast, a human being is able to judge the truth of this thing, insofar as he or she would be able to tell that my drawing is not really and truly a circle, but is at best a good approximation of what a true circle would be.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Now, in intellectual cognition, just as in the sensory cognition of things, when the intellect simply apprehends a true thing, then it still does not have to judge the truth of the thing, even though it may have a true apprehension, adequately representing the thing. But the cognition of the truth of the thing only occurs in a judgment, when the intellect judges the adequacy of the thing to its exemplar.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

But since a thing can be compared to two sorts of exemplar, namely, to the exemplar in the human mind, and to the exemplar in the divine mind, the cognition of the truth of a thing is twofold, relative to these two exemplars. The exemplar of the human mind, according to Henry, is nothing but the Aristotelian abstract concept of the thing, whereby the thing is simply apprehended in a universal manner, and hence its truth is judged relative to this concept, when the intellect judges that the thing in question falls under this concept or not. As Henry writes:

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

[…] attending to the exemplar gained from the thing as the reason for its cognition in the cognizer, the truth of the thing can indeed be recognized, by forming a concept of the thing that conforms to that exemplar; and it is in this way that Aristotle asserted that man gains knowledge and cognition of the truth from purely natural sources about changeable natural things, and that this exemplar is acquired from things by means of the senses, as from the first principle of art and science. […] So, by means of the universal notion in us that we have acquired from the several species of animals we are able to realize concerning any thing that comes our way whether it is an animal or not, and by means of the specific notion of donkey we realize concerning any thing that comes our way whether it is a donkey or not. [HQO, a. 1, q. 2, fol. 5 E-F]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

But this sort of cognition of the truth of a thing, although it is intellectual, universal cognition, is far from being the infallible knowledge we are seeking. As Henry argues further:

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

But by this sort of acquired exemplar in us we do not have the entirely certain and infallible cognition of truth. Indeed, this is entirely impossible for three reasons, the first of which is taken from the thing from which this exemplar is abstracted, the second from the soul, in which this exemplar is received, and the third from the exemplar itself that is received in the soul about the thing. The first reason is that this exemplar, since it is abstracted from changeable things, has to share in the nature of changeability. Therefore, since physical things are more changeable than mathematical objects, this is why the Philosopher claimed that we have a greater certainty of knowledge about mathematical objects than about physical things by means of their universal species. And this is why Augustine, discussing this cause of the uncertainty of the knowledge of natural things in q. 9 of his Eighty-Three Different Questions, says that from the bodily senses one should not expect the pure truth [syncera veritas] … The second reason is that the human soul, since it is changeable and susceptible to error, cannot be rectified to save it from swerving into error by anything that is just as changeable as itself, or even more; therefore, any exemplar that it receives from natural things is necessarily just as changeable as itself, or even more, since it is of an inferior nature, whence it cannot rectify the soul so that it would persist in the infallible truth. … The third reason is that this sort of exemplar, since it is the intention and species of the sensible thing abstracted from the phantasm, is similar to the false as well as to the true [thing], so that on its account these cannot be distinguished. For it is by means of the same images of sensible things that in dreams and madness we judge these images to be the things, and in sane awareness we judge the things themselves. But the pure truth can only be perceived by discerning it from falsehood. Therefore, by means of such an exemplar it is impossible to have certain knowledge, and certain cognition of the truth. And so if we are to have certain knowledge of the truth, then we have to turn our mind away from the senses and sensible things, and from every intention, no matter how universal and abstracted from sensible things, to the unchangeable truth existing above the mind […]. [ibid., fol. 5. F]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

So, Henry first distinguished between the cognition of a true thing and the intellectual cognition of the truth of a thing, and then, concerning the cognition of the truth of the thing, he distinguished between the cognition of truth by means of a concept abstracted from the thing and “the pure truth” [veritas syncera vel liquida], which he says cannot be obtained by means of such abstracted concepts.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

But then the question naturally arises: what is this “pure truth”, and how can it be obtained, if at all? Since cognition of the pure truth involves comparison of objects not to their acquired exemplar in the human mind, but to their eternal exemplar in the divine mind, in the ideal case it would consist in some sort of direct insight into the divine ideas, enabling the person who has this access to see everything in its true form, as “God meant it to be”, and also see how it fails to live up to its idea due to its defects. So, it would be like the direct intuition of two objects, one sensible, another intelligible, on the basis of which one could also immediately judge how closely the former approaches the latter. But this sort of direct intuition of the divine ideas is only the share of angels and the souls of the blessed in beatific vision; it is generally not granted in this life, except in rare, miraculous cases, in rapture, or prophetic vision.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Therefore, if there is to be any non-miraculous recognition of this pure truth in this life, then it has to occur differently. Henry argues that even if we do not have a direct intuition of divine ideas as the objects cognized (whereby their particulars are recognized as more or less approximating them), we do have the cognition of the quiddities of things as the objects cognized by reason of some indirect cognition of their ideas. The reason for this, Henry says, is the following:

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

…for our concept to be true by the pure truth, the soul, insofar as it is informed by it, has to be similar to the truth of the thing outside, since truth is a certain adequacy of the thing and the intellect. And so, as Augustine says in bk. 2 of On Free Choice of the Will, since the soul by itself is liable to slip from truth into falsity, whence by itself it is not informed by the truth of any thing, although it can be informed by it, but nothing can inform itself, for nothing can give what it does not have; therefore, it is necessary that it be informed of the pure truth of a thing by something else. But this cannot be done by the exemplar received from the thing itself, as has been shown earlier [in the previously quoted passage — GK]. It is necessary, therefore, that it be informed by the exemplar of the unchangeable truth, as Augustine intends in the same place. And this is why he says in On True Religion that just as by its truth are true those that are true, so too by its similitude are similar those that are similar. It is necessary, therefore, that the unchangeable truth impress itself into our concept, and that it transform our concept to its own character, and that in this way it inform our mind with the expressed truth of the thing by the same similitude that the thing itself has in the first truth. [HQO a. 1, q. 2, fol. 7, I]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

So, when we have the cognition of the pure truth of a thing, then we cannot have it in terms of the concept acquired from the thing, yet, since we cannot have it from a direct intuition of the divine exemplar either, the way we can have it is that the acquired concept primarily impressed on our mind will be further clarified, but no longer by a similarity of the thing, but by the similarity of the divine exemplar itself. Henry’s point seems to be that given that the external thing itself is already just a (more or less defective) copy of the exemplar, the (more or less defective) copy of this copy can only be improved by means of the original exemplar, just as a copy of a poor repro of some original picture can only be improved by retouching the copy not on the basis of the poor repro, but on the basis of the original. But since the external thing is fashioned after its divine idea, the “retouching” of the concept in terms of the original idea does yield a better representation of the thing; indeed, so much better that on the basis of this “retouched” concept we are even able to judge just how well the thing realizes its kind.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

For example, when I simply have the initial simple concept of circle abstracted from circular objects I have seen, that concept is good enough for me to tell circular objects apart from non-circular ones. But with this simple, unanalyzed concept in mind, I may still not be able to say what a true circle is supposed to be, and accordingly, exactly how and to what extent the more or less circular objects I see fail or meet this standard. However, when I come to understand that a circle is a locus of points equidistant from a given point, I will realize by means of a clear and distinct concept what it was that I originally conceived in a vague and confused manner in my original concept of circle.[23]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

To be sure, I do not come to this definition of circle by looking up to the heaven of Ideas; in fact, I may just be instructed about it by my geometry teacher. But what is not given to me by my geometry teacher is the understanding of the fact that what is expressed by the definition is indeed what I originally rather vaguely conceived by my concept abstracted from visible circles. This “flash” of understanding, when I realize that it is necessary for anything that truly matches the concept of a circle to be such as described in the definition, would be an instance of receiving illumination without any particular, miraculous revelation.[24]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

However, even if in this light Henry’s distinctions between the two kinds of truths and the corresponding differences of concepts make good sense, and even if we accept that the concepts primarily accepted from sensible objects need to be further worked on in order to provide us with true, clear understanding of the natures of things, it is not clear that this further work cannot be done by the natural faculties of our mind, assuming only the general influence of God in sustaining its natural operations, but without performing any direct and specific “retouching” of our concepts “from above”. Using our previous analogy of the acquired concept as the copy of a poor repro of an original, we may say that if we have a number of different poor, fuzzy repros that are defective in a number of different ways, then in a long and complex process of collating them, we might still be able discern the underlying pattern of the original, and thus produce a copy that is actually closer to the original than any of the direct repros, without ever being allowed a glimpse of the original.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

In fact, this was precisely the way Aristotelian theologians, such as Aquinas, interpreted Augustine’ conception of illumination, reducing God’s role to providing us with the intelligible light not by directly operating on any of our concepts in particular, but providing the mind with “a certain likeness of the uncreated light, obtained through participation” (ST1, q. 84, a. 5c), namely, the agent intellect.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Matthew of Aquasparta quite faithfully describes this view, associating it with the Aristotelian position he rejects:

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Some people engaged in “philosophizing” [quidam philosophantes] follow this position, although not entirely, when they assert that that light is the general cause of certain cognition, but is not attained, and its special influence is not necessary in natural cognition; but the light of the agent intellect is sufficient together with the species and similitudes of things abstracted and received from the things; for otherwise the operation of [our] nature would be rendered vacuous, our intellect would understand only by coincidence, and our cognition would not be natural, but supernatural. And what Augustine says, namely, that everything is seen in and through that light, is not to be understood as if the intellect would somehow attain that light, nor as if that light would have some specific influence on it, but in such a way that the eternal God naturally endowed us with intellectual light, in which we naturally cognize and see all cognizable things that are within the scope of reason. [DHCR, p. 95]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Although Matthew vehemently rejects this position as going against Augustine’s original intention (“which is unacceptable, since he is a prominent teacher, whom catholic teachers and especially theologians ought to follow” — as Matthew says), this view, in ever more refined versions, gained more and more ground toward the end of the 13th century, adopted not only by Aquinas and his followers, but also by his major opponents, namely, Scotus and his followers.[25]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Still, illuminationism and abstractionism were never treated by medieval thinkers as mutually exclusive alternatives. They rather served as the two poles of a balancing act in judging the respective roles of nature and direct divine intervention in human intellectual cognition.[26]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

5. Platonic Forms as Divine Ideas

5.2 Illuminationism vs. Abstractionism

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Although Platonism definitely survived throughout the Middle Ages (and beyond), in the guise of the interconnected doctrines of divine ideas, participation, and illumination, there was a quite general Aristotelian consensus,[27] especially after Abelard’s time, that the mundane universals of the species and genera of material beings exist as such in the human mind, as a result of the mind’s abstracting from their individuating conditions. But consensus concerning this much by no means entailed a unanimous agreement on exactly what the universals thus abstracted are, what it is for them to exist in the mind, how they are related to their particulars, what their real foundation in those particulars is, what their role is in the constitution of our universal knowledge, and how they contribute to the encoding and communication of this knowledge in the various human languages. For although the general Aristotelian stance towards universals successfully handles the inconsistencies quite obviously generated by a naïve Platonist ontology, it gives rise precisely to these further problems of its own.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

It was Abelard who first dealt with the problem of universals explicitly in this form. Having relatively easily disposed of putative universal forms as real entities corresponding to Boethius’ definition, in his Logica Ingredientibus he concludes that given Aristotle’s definition of universals in his On Interpretation as those things that can be predicated of several things, it is only universal words that can be regarded as really existing universals. However, since according to Aristotle’s account in the same work, words are meaningful in virtue of signifying concepts in the mind, Abelard soon arrives at the following questions:

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

These questions open up a new chapter in the history of the problem of universals. For these questions add a new aspect to the bundle of the originally primarily ontological, epistemological, and theological questions constituting the problem, namely, they add a semantic aspect. On the Aristotelian conception of universals as universal predicables, there obviously are universals, namely, our universal words. But the universality of our words is clearly not dependent on the physical qualities of our articulate sounds, or of the various written marks indicating them, but on their representative function. So, to give an account of the universality of our universal words, we have to be able to tell in virtue of what they have this universal representative function, that is to say, we have to be able to assign a common cause by the recognition of which in terms of a common concept we can give a common name to a potential infinity of individuals belonging to the same kind.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

But this common cause certainly cannot be a common thing in the way Boethius described universal things, for, as we have seen, the assumption of the existence of such a common thing leads to contradictions. To be sure, Abelard also provides a number of further arguments, dealing with several refinements of Boethius’ characterization of universals proposed by his contemporaries, such as William of Champeaux, Bernard of Chartres, Clarembald of Arras, Jocelin of Soissons, and Walter of Mortagne – but I cannot go into those details here.[28] The point is that he refutes and rejects all these suggestions to save real universals either as common things, having their own real unity, or as collections of several things, having a merely collective unity. The gist of his arguments against the former view is that the universal thing on that view would have to have its own numerical unity, and therefore, since it constitutes the substance of all its singulars, all these singulars would have to be substantially one and the same thing which would have to have all their contrary properties at the same time, which is impossible. The main thrust of his arguments against the collection-theory is that collections are arbitrary integral wholes of the individuals that make them up, so they simply do not fill the bill of the Porphyrian characterizations of the essential predicables such as genera and species.[29]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

So, the common cause of the imposition of universal words cannot be any one thing, or a multitude of things; yet, being a common cause, it cannot be nothing. Therefore, this common cause, which Abelard calls the status[30] of those things to which it is common, is a cause, but it is a cause which is a non-thing. However strange this may sound, Abelard observes that sometimes we do assign causes which are not things. For example, when we say “The ship was wrecked because the pilot was absent”, the cause that we assign, namely, that the pilot was absent is not some thing, it is rather how things were, i.e., the way things were, which in this case we signify by the whole proposition “The pilot was absent”.[31] From the point of view of understanding what Abelard’s status are, it is significant that he assimilates the causal role of status as the common cause of imposition to causes that are signified by whole propositions. These significata of whole propositions, which in English we may refer to by using the corresponding “that-clauses” (as I did above, referring to the cause of the ship’s wreck by the phrase “that the pilot was absent”), and in Latin by an accusative-with-infinitive construction, are what Abelard calls the dicta of propositions. These dicta, not being identifiable with any single thing, yet, not being nothing, constitute an ontological realm that is completely different from that of ordinary things. But it is also in this realm that Abelard’s common causes of imposition may find their place.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Abelard says that the common cause of imposition of a universal name has to be something in which things falling under that name agree. For example, the name ‘man’ (in the sense of ‘human being’, and not in the sense of ‘male human being’) is imposed on all humans on account of something in which all humans, as such, agree. But that in which all humans as such agree is that each one of them is a man, that is, each one agrees with all others in their being a man. So, it is their being human [esse hominem] that is the common cause Abelard was looking for, and this is what he calls the status of man. The status of man is not a thing; it is not any singular man, for obviously no singular man is common to all men, and it is not a universal man, for there is no such a thing. But being a man is common in the required manner (i.e., it is something in which all humans agree), yet it is clearly not a thing. For let us consider the singular propositions ‘Socrates is a man’ [Socrates est homo], ‘Plato is a man’ [Plato est homo], etc. These signify their dicta, namely, Socrates’s being a man [Socratem esse hominem], and Plato’s being a man [Platonem esse hominem], etc. But then it is clear that if we abstract from the singular subjects and retain what is common to them all, we can get precisely the status in which all these subjects agree, namely, being a man [esse hominem]. So, the status, just like the dicta from which they can be obtained, constitute an ontological realm that is entirely different from that of ordinary things.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Still, despite the fact that it clearly has to do something with abstraction, an activity of the mind, Abelard insists that a status is not a concept of our mind. The reason for his insistence is that the status, being the common cause of imposition of a common name, must be something real, the existence of which is not dependent on the activity of our minds. A status is there in the nature of things, regardless of whether we form a mental act whereby we recognize it or not. In fact, for Abelard, a status is an object of the divine mind, whereby God preconceives the state of his creation from eternity.[32] A concept, or mental image of our mind, however, exists as the object of our mind only insofar as our mind performs the mental act whereby it forms this object. But this object, again, is not a thing, indeed, not any more than any other fictitious object of our minds. However, what distinguishes the universal concept from a merely fictitious object of our mind is that the former corresponds to a status of really existing singular things, whereas the latter does not have anything corresponding to it.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

To be sure, there are a number of points left in obscurity by Abelard’s discussion concerning the relationships of the items distinguished here. For example, Abelard says that we cannot conceive of the status. However, it seems that we can only signify by our words whatever we can conceive. Yet, Abelard insists that besides our concepts, our words must signify the status themselves.[33] A solution to the problem is only hinted at in Abelard’s remark that the names can signify status, because “their inventor meant to impose them in accordance with certain natures or characteristics of things, even if he did not know how to think out the nature or characteristic of the thing” (Five Texts, Spade 1994, p. 46 (116)). So, we may assume that although the inventor of the name does not know the status, his vague, “senses-bound” conception, from which he takes his word’s signification, is directed at the status, as to that which he intends to signify.[34] However, Abelard does not work out this suggestion in any further detail. Again, it is unclear how the status is related to the individualized natures of the things that agree in the status. If the status is what the divine mind conceives of the singulars in abstraction from them, why couldn’t the nature itself be conceived in the same way? – after all, the abstract nature would not have to be a thing any more than a status is, for its existence would not be real being, but merely its being conceived. Furthermore, it seems quite plausible that Abelard’s status could be derived by abstraction from singular dicta with the same predicate, as suggested above. But dicta are the quite ordinary significata of our propositions, which Abelard never treats as epistemologically problematic, so why would the status, which we could apparently abstract from them, be accessible only to the divine mind?

The Medieval Problem of Universals

6. Universals According to Abelard’s Aristotelian Conception

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

I’m not suggesting that Abelard could not provide acceptable and coherent answers to these and similar questions and problems.[35] But perhaps these problems also contributed to the fact that by the 13th century his doctrine of status was no longer in currency. Another historical factor that may have contributed to the waning of Abelard’s theory was probably the influence of the newly translated Aristotelian writings along with the Arabic commentaries that flooded the Latin West in the second half of the 12th century.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

The most important influence in this period from our point of view came from Avicenna’s doctrine distinguishing the absolute consideration of a universal nature from what applies to the same nature in the subject in which it exists. The distinction is neatly summarized in the following passage.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Horsehood, to be sure, has a definition that does not demand universality. Rather it is that to which universality happens. Hence horsehood itself is nothing but horsehood only. For in itself it is neither many nor one, neither is it existent in these sensibles nor in the soul, neither is it any of these things potentially or actually in such a way that this is contained under the definition of horsehood. Rather [in itself it consists] of what is horsehood only.[36]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

In his little treatise On Being and Essence, Aquinas explains the distinction in greater detail in the following words:

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

A nature, however, or essence …can be considered in two ways. First, we can consider it according to its proper notion, and this is its absolute consideration; and in this way nothing is true of it except what pertains to it as such; whence if anything else is attributed to it, that will yield a false attribution. …In the other way [an essence] is considered as it exists in this or that [individual]; and in this way something is predicated of it per accidens [non-essentially or coincidentally], on account of that in which it exists, as when we say that a man is white because Socrates is white, although this does not pertain to man as such. A nature considered in this way, however, has two sorts of existence. It exists in singulars on the one hand, and in the soul on the other, and from each of these [sorts of existence] it acquires accidents. In the singulars, furthermore, the essence has several [acts of] existence according to the multiplicity of singulars. Nevertheless, if we consider the essence in the first, or absolute, sense, none of these pertain to it. For it is false to say that the essence of man, considered absolutely, has existence in this singular, because if existence in this singular pertained to man insofar as he is man, man would never exist, except as this singular. Similarly, if it pertained to man insofar as he is man not to exist in this singular, then the essence would never exist in the singular. But it is true to say that man, but not insofar as he is man, may be in this singular or in that one, or else in the soul. Therefore, the nature of man considered absolutely abstracts from every existence, though it does not exclude any. And the nature thus considered is what is predicated of each individual.[37]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

So, a common nature or essence according to its absolute consideration abstracts from all existence, both in the singulars and in the mind. Yet, and this is the important point, it is the same nature that informs both the singulars that have this nature and the minds conceiving of them in terms of this nature. To be sure, this sameness is not numerical sameness, and thus it does not yield numerically one nature. On the contrary, it is the sameness of several, numerically distinct realizations of the same information-content, just like the sameness of a book in its several copies. Just as there is no such a thing as a universal book over and above the singular copies of the same book, so there is no such a thing as a universal nature existing over and above the singular things of the same nature; still, just as it is true to say that the singular copies are the copies of the same book, so it is true to say that these singulars are of the same nature.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Indeed, this analogy also shows why this conception should be so appealing from the point of view of the original epistemological problem of the possibility of universal knowledge, without entailing the ontological problems of naïve Platonism. For just as we do not need to read all copies of the same book in order to know what we can find on the same page in the next copy (provided it is not a corrupt copy),[38] so we can know what may apply to all singulars of the same nature without having to experience them all. Still, we need not assume that we can have this knowledge only if we can get somehow in a mysterious contact with the universal nature over and above the singulars; all we need is to learn how “to read” the singulars in our experience to discern the “common message”, the universal nature, informing them all, uniformly, yet in their distinct singularity. (Note that “reading the singulars” is not a mere metaphor: this is precisely what geneticists are quite literally doing in the process of gene sequencing, for instance, in the human genome project.) Therefore, the same nature is not the same in the same way as the same individual having this nature is the same as long as it exists. For that same nature, insofar as it is regarded as the same, does not even exist at all; it is said to be the same only insofar as it is recognizable as the same, if we disregard everything that distinguishes its instances in several singulars. (Note here that whoever would want to deny such a recognizable sameness in and across several singulars would have to deny that he is able to recognize the same words or the same letters in various sentences; so such a person would not be able to read, write, or even to speak, or understand human speech. But then we shouldn’t really worry about such a person in a philosophical debate.)

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

However, at this point some further questions emerge. If this common nature is recognizably the same on account of disregarding its individuating conditions in the singulars, then isn’t it the result of abstraction; and if so, isn’t it in the abstractive mind as its object? But if it is, then how can Aquinas say that it abstracts both from being in the singulars and from being in the mind?

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Here we should carefully distinguish between what we can say about the same nature as such, and what we can say about the same nature on account of its conditions as it exists in this or that subject. Again, using our analogy, we can certainly consistently say that the same book in its first edition was 200 pages, whereas in the second only 100, because it was printed on larger pages, but the book itself, as such, is neither 200 nor 100 pages, although it can be either. In the same way, we can consistently say that the same nature as such is neither in the singulars nor in the mind, but of course it is only insofar as it is in the mind that it can be recognizably the same, on account of the mind’s abstraction. Therefore, that it is abstract and is actually recognized as the same in its many instances is something that belongs to the same nature only on account of being conceived by the abstractive mind. This is the reason why the nature is called a universal concept, insofar as it is in the mind. Indeed, it is only under this aspect that it is properly called a universal. So, although that which is predicable of several singulars is nothing but the common nature as such, considered absolutely, still, that it is predicable pertains to the same nature only on account of being conceived by the abstractive intellect, insofar as it is a concept of the mind.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

At any rate, this is how Aquinas solves the paralogism that seems to arise from this account, according to which the true claims that Socrates is a man and man is a species would seem to entail the falsity that Socrates is a species. For if we say that in the proposition ‘Socrates is a man’ the predicate signifies human nature absolutely, but the same nature, on account of its abstract character, is a species, the false conclusion seems inevitable (Klima 1993a).

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

However, since the common nature is not a species in its absolute consideration, but only insofar as it is in the mind, the conclusion does not follow. Indeed, this reasoning would be just as invalid as the one trying to prove that this book, pointing to the second edition which is actually 100 pages, is 200 pages, because the same book was 200 hundred pages in its first edition. For just as its being 200 pages belongs to the same book only in its first edition, so its being a species belongs to human nature only as it exists in the mind.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

So, to sum up, we have to distinguish here between the nature existing in this singular (such as the individualized human nature of Socrates, which is numerically one item, mind-independently existing in Socrates), the universal (such as the species of human nature existing only in the mind as its object considered in abstraction from the individuating conditions it has in the singular humans), and the nature according to its absolute consideration (such as human nature considered in abstraction both from its existence in the singulars as its subjects and in the mind as its object). What establishes the distinction of these items is the difference of what can be truly said of them on account of the different conditions they have in this or that. What establishes the unity of these items, however, is that they are somehow the same nature existing and considered under different conditions. For the human nature in Socrates is numerically one, it is numerically distinct from the human nature in Plato, and it has real, mind-independent existence, which is in fact nothing but the existence of Socrates, i.e., Socrates’ life. However, although the human nature in Socrates is a numerically distinct item from the human nature in Plato, insofar as it is human nature, it is formally, in fact, specifically the same nature, for it is human nature, and not another, specifically different, say, feline or canine nature. It is precisely this formal, specific, mind-independent sameness of these items (for, of course, say, this cat and that cat do not differ insofar as they are feline, regardless of whether there is anyone to recognize this) that allows the abstractive human mind to recognize this sameness by abstracting from those individuating conditions on account of which this individualized nature in this individual numerically differs from that individualized nature in that individual. Thus, insofar as the formally same nature is actually considered by a human mind in abstraction from these individualizing conditions, it is a universal, a species, an abstract object of a mental act whereby a human mind conceives of any individualized human nature without its individuating conditions. But, as we could see earlier, nothing can be a human nature existing without its individuating conditions, although any individualized human nature can be thought of without thinking of its necessarily conjoined individuating conditions (just as triangular shape can be thought of without thinking its necessarily conjoined conditions of being isosceles or being scalene). So for this universal concept to be is nothing but to be thought of, to be an object of the abstractive human mind. Finally, human nature in its absolute consideration is the same nature abstracted even from this being, i.e., even from being an object of the mind. Thus, as opposed to both in its existence in individuals and in the mind, neither existence, nor non-existence, nor unity, nor disunity or multiplicity belongs to it, as it is considered without any of these; indeed, it is considered without considering its being considered, for it is considered only in terms of what belongs to it on account of itself, not considering anything that has to belong to it on account of something else in which it can only be (i.e., whether in the mind or in reality). So, the nature according to its absolute consideration does not have numerical unity or multiplicity, which it has as it exists in individuals, nor does it have the formal unity that it has in the consideration of the mind (insofar as it is one species among many), but it has that formal unity which precedes even the recognition of this unity by the abstractive mind.[39]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Nevertheless, even if with these distinctions Aquinas’ solution of the paralogism works and what he says about the existence and unity vs. multiplicity of a common nature can be given a consistent interpretation, the emergence of the paralogism itself and the complexities involved in explaining it away, as well as the problems involved in providing this consistent interpretation show the inherent difficulties of this account. The main difficulty is the trouble of keeping track of what we are talking about when it becomes crucial to know what pertains to what on account of what; in general, when the conditions of identity and distinction of the items we are talking about become variable and occasionally rather unclear.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

7. Universal Natures in Singular Beings and in Singular Minds

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Indeed, we can appreciate just how acute these difficulties may become if we survey the items that needed to be distinguished in what may be described as the common conceptual framework of the “realist” via antiqua, the “old way” of doing philosophy and theology, before the emergence of the “modern way”, the “nominalist” via moderna challenging some fundamental principles of the older framework, resulting mostly from the semantic innovations introduced by William Ockham. The survey of these items and the problems they generate will then allow us to see in greater detail the main motivation for Ockham’s innovations.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

In this framework, we have first of all the universal or common terms of spoken and written languages, which are common on account of being imposed upon universal concepts of the human mind. The concepts themselves are universal on account of being obtained by the activity of the abstractive human mind from experiences of singulars. But the process of concept formation also involves various stages.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

In the first place, the sensory information collected by the single senses is distinguished, synthesized, and collated by the higher sensory faculties of the common sense [sensus communis] and the so-called cogitative power [vis cogitativa], to be stored in sensory memory as phantasms, the sensory representations of singulars in their singularity. The active intellect [intellectus agens] uses this sensory information to extract its intelligible content and produce the intelligible species [species intelligibiles], the universal representations of several individuals in their various degrees of formal unity, disregarding their distinctive features and individuating conditions in the process of abstraction.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

The intelligible species are stored in the intellectual memory of the potential intellect [intellectus possibilis], which can then use them to form the corresponding concept in an act of thought, for example, in forming a judgment. The intelligible species and the concepts themselves, being formed by individual human minds, are individual in their being, insofar as they pertain to this or that human mind. However, since they are the result of abstraction, in their information content they are universal.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Now insofar as this universal information content is common to all minds that form these concepts at all, and therefore it is a common intelligible content gained by these minds from their objects insofar as they are conceived by these minds in a universal manner, later scholastic thinkers refer to it as the objective concept [conceptus obiectivus], distinguishing it from the formal or subjective concepts [conceptus formales seu subiectivi], which are the individual acts of individual minds carrying this information (just as the individual copies of a book carry the information content of the book).[40] It is this objective concept that is identified as the universal of the human mind (distinguished from the universals of the divine mind), namely, a species, a genus, a difference, a property, or an accident. (Note that these are only the simple concepts. Complex concepts, such as those corresponding to complex terms and propositions are the products of the potential intellect using these concepts in its further operations.)

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

These universals, then, as the objective concepts of the mind, would be classified as beings of reason [entia rationis], the being of which consists in their being conceived (cf. Klima 1993b and Schmidt 1966). To be sure, they are not merely fictitious objects, for they are grounded in the nature of things insofar as they carry the universal information content abstracted from the singulars. But then again, the universal information content of the objective concept itself, considered not insofar as it is in the mind as its object, but in itself, disregarding whatever may carry it, is distinguished from its carriers both in the mind and in the ultimate objects of the mind, the singular things, as the nature of these things in its absolute consideration.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

However, the common nature as such cannot exist on its own any more than a book could exist without any copies of it or any minds conceiving of it. So, this common nature has real existence only in the singulars, informing them, and giving them their recognizably common characteristics. However, these common characteristics can be recognized as such only by a mind capable of abstracting the common nature from experiencing it in its really existing singular instances. But it is on account of the real existence of these individualized instances in the singulars that the common nature can truly be predicated of the singulars, as long as they are actually informed by these individualized instances.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

The items thus distinguished and their interconnections can be represented by the following block-diagram. The dashed frames indicate that the items enclosed by them have a certain reduced ontological status, a “diminished” mode of being, while the boxes partly sharing a side indicate the (possible) partial identities of the items they enclose.[41] The arrows pointing from the common term to the singulars, their individualized natures and items in the mind on this diagram represent semantic relations, which I am going to explain later, in connection with Ockham’s innovations. The rest of the arrows indicate the flow of information from experience of singulars through the sensory faculties to the abstractive mind, and to the application of the universal information abstracted by the mind to further singular experiences in acts of judgment.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Obviously, this is a rather complicated picture. However, its complexity itself should not be regarded as problematic or even surprising, for that matter. After all, this diagram merely summarizes, and distinguishes the main stages of, how the human mind processes the intelligible, universal information received from a multitude of singular experiences, and then again, how it applies this information in classifying further experiences. This process may reasonably be expected to be complex, and should not be expected to involve fewer stages than, e.g., setting up, and retrieving information from, a computer database.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

What renders this picture more problematic is rather the difficulties involved in identifying and distinguishing these stages and the corresponding items. Further complications were also generated by the variations in terminology among several authors, and the various criteria of identity and distinctness applied by them in introducing various different notions of identity and distinctness. In fact, many of the great debates of the authors working within this framework can be characterized precisely as disputing the identity or distinctness of the items featured here, or the very criteria of identifying or distinguishing them.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

For example, already Abelard raised the question whether the concept or mental image, which we may identify in the diagram as the objective concept of later authors, should be identified with the act of thought, which we may identify as the subjective concept, or perhaps a further act of the mind, called formatio, namely, the potential intellect’s act of forming the concept, using the intelligible species as the principle of its action. Such distinctions were later on severely criticized by authors such as John Peter Olivi and others, who argued for the elimination of intelligible species, and, in general, of any intermediaries between an act of the intellect and its ultimate objects, the singulars conceived in a universal manner.[42]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Again, looking at the diagram on the side of the singulars, most 13th century authors agreed that what accounts for the specific unity of several individuals of the same species, namely, their specific nature, should be something other than what accounts for their numerical distinctness, namely, their principle of individuation. However, one singular entity in a species of several co-specific individuals has to contain both the principle of the specific unity of these individuals and its own principle of individuation. Therefore, this singular entity, being a composite at least of its specific nature and its principle of individuation, has to be distinct from its specific nature. At any rate, this is the situation with material substances, whose principle of individuation was held to be their matter. However, based on this reasoning, immaterial substances, such as angels, could not be regarded as numerically distinct on account of their matter, but only on account of their form. But since form is the principle of specific unity, difference in form causes specific diversity. Therefore, on this basis, any two angels had to be regarded as different in species. This conclusion was explicitly drawn by Aquinas and others, but it was rejected by Augustinian theologians, and it was condemned in Paris in 1277.[43]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

So, no wonder authors such as Henry of Ghent and Duns Scotus worked out alternative accounts of individuation, introducing not only different principles of individuation, such as the Scotists’ famous (or infamous) haecceity, but also different criteria of distinctness and identity, such as those grounding Henry of Ghent’s intentional distinction, or Scotus’s formal distinction,[44] or even later Suarez’ modal distinction.[45]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

But even further problems arose from considering the identity or distinctness of the individualized natures signified by several common terms in one and the same individual. The metaphysical debate over the real distinction of essence and existence from this point of view is nothing but the issue whether the individualized common nature signified by the definition of a thing is the same as the act of being signified by the verb ‘is’ in the same thing. In fact, the famous problem of the plurality vs. unity of substantial forms may also be regarded as a dispute over whether the common natures signified by the substantial predicates on the Porphyrian tree in the category of substance are distinct or the same in the same individual (cf. Callus 1967). Finally, and this appears to be the primary motivation for Ockham’s innovations, there was the question whether one must regard all individualized common natures signified in the same individual by several predicates in the ten Aristotelian categories as distinct from one another. For the affirmative answer would involve commitment to a virtually limitless multiplication of entities.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Indeed, according to Ockham, the via antiqua conception would entail that

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

a column is to the right by to-the-rightness, God is creating by creation, is good by goodness, just by justice, mighty by might, an accident inheres by inherence, a subject is subjected by subjection, the apt is apt by aptitude, a chimera is nothing by nothingness, someone blind is blind by blindness, a body is mobile by mobility, and so on for other, innumerable cases.[46]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

8. Universals in the Via Antiqua

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

And this is nothing, but “multiplying beings according to the multiplicity of terms… which, however, is erroneous and leads far away from the truth”.[47]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

9. Universals in the Via Moderna

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

To be sure, as the very debates within the via antiqua framework concerning the identity or non-identity of various items distinguished in that framework indicate, Ockham’s charges are not quite justified.[48] After all, several via antiqua authors did allow the identification of the significata of terms belonging to various categories, so their “multiplication of beings” did not necessarily match the multiplicity of terms. Furthermore, since via antiqua authors also distinguished between various modes or senses of being, allowing various sorts of “diminished” kinds of being, such as beings of reason, their ontological commitments were certainly not as unambiguous as Ockham would have us believe in this passage. However, if we contrast the diagram of the via antiqua framework above with the following schematic representation of the via moderna framework introduced by Ockham, we can immediately appreciate the point of Ockham’s innovations.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

9. Universals in the Via Moderna

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Without a doubt, it is the captivating simplicity of this picture, especially as compared with the complexity of the via antiqua picture, that was the major appeal of the Ockhamist approach. There are fewer items here, equally on the same ontological footing, distinguished from one another in terms of the same unambiguous distinction, the numerical distinction between individual real entities.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

9. Universals in the Via Moderna

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

To be sure, there still are universals in this picture. But these universals are neither common natures “contracted” to individuals by some really or merely formally distinct principle of individuation, nor some universal objects of the mind, which exist in a “diminished” manner, as beings of reason. Ockham’s universals, at least in his mature theory,[49] are just our common terms and our common concepts. Our common terms, which are just singular utterances or inscriptions, are common in virtue of being subordinated to our common concepts. Our common concepts, on the other hand, are just singular acts of our singular minds. Their universality consists simply in the universality of their representative function. For example, the common term ‘man’ is a spoken or written universal term of English, because it is subordinated to that concept of our minds by which we conceive of each man indifferently. (See Klima, 2011) It is this indifference in its representative function that enables the singular act of my mind to conceive of each man in a universal manner, and the same goes for the singular act of your mind. Accordingly, there is no need to assume that there is anything in the individual humans, distinct from these humans themselves, a common yet individualized nature waiting to be abstracted by the mind. All we need to assume is that two humans are more similar to each other than either of them to a brute animal, and all animals are more similar to each other than any of them to a plant, etc., and that the mind, being able to recognize this similarity, is able to represent the humans by means of a common specific concept, the animals by means of a common generic concept, all living things by means of a more general generic concept, etc.[50] In this way, then, the common terms subordinated to these concepts need not signify some abstract common nature in the mind, and consequently its individualized instances in the singulars, for they directly signify the singulars themselves, just as they are directly conceived by the universally representative acts of the mind. So, what these common terms signify are just the singulars themselves, which are also the things referred to by these terms when they are used in propositions. Using the customary rendering of the medieval logical terminology, the things ultimately signified by a common term are its significata, while the things referred to by the same term when it is used in a proposition are their (personal) supposita.[51]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

9. Universals in the Via Moderna

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Now if we compare the two diagrams representing the respective conceptions of the two viae, we can see just how radically Ockham’s innovations changed the character of the semantic relations connecting terms, concepts and things. In both viae, common terms are subordinated to common concepts, and it is in virtue of this subordination that they ultimately signify what their concepts represent. In the via moderna, a concept is just an act of the mind representing singulars in a more or less indifferent manner, yielding a more or less universal signification for the term. In the via antiqua, however, the act of the mind is just one item in a whole series of intermediary representations, distinguished in terms of their different functions in processing universal information, and connected by their common content, ultimately representing the common, yet individualized natures of their singulars.[52] Accordingly, a common term, expressing this common content, is primarily subordinated to the objective concept of the mind. But of course, this objective concept is only the common content of the singular representative acts of singular minds, their subjective concepts, formed by means of the intelligible species, abstracted by their active intellects. On the other hand, the objective concept, abstracting from all individuating conditions, expresses only what is common to all singulars, namely, their nature considered absolutely. But this absolutely considered nature is only the common content of what informs each singular of the same nature in its actual real existence. So, the term’s ultimate significata will have to be the individualized natures of the singulars. But these ultimate significata may still not be the singulars themselves, namely, when the things informed by these significata are not metaphysically simple. In the via moderna conception, therefore, the ultimate significata of a term are nothing but those singular things that can be the term’s supposita in various propositions, as a matter of semantics. By contrast, in the via antiqua conception, a term’s ultimate significata may or may not be the same things as the term’s (personal) supposita, depending on the constitution of these supposita, as a matter of metaphysics. The singulars will be the supposita of the term when it is used as the subject term of a proposition in which something is predicated about the things informed by these ultimate significata (in the case of metaphysically simple entities, the term’s significata and supposita coincide).[53]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

9. Universals in the Via Moderna

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

Nevertheless, despite the nominalists’ charges to the contrary, the via antiqua framework, as far as its semantic considerations are concerned, was no more committed to the real distinction of the significata and supposita of its common terms than the via moderna framework was. For if the semantic theory in itself had precluded the identification of these semantic values, then the question of possible identity of these values could not have been meaningfully raised in the first place. Furthermore, in that case such identifications would have been precluded as meaningless even when talking about metaphysically simple entities, such as angels and God, whereas the metaphysical simplicity of these entities was expressed precisely in terms of such identifications. But also in the mundane cases of the significata and supposita of concrete and abstract universal terms in the nine accidental categories, several via antiqua authors argued for the identification of these semantic values both within and across categories. First of all there was Aristotle’s authority for the claim that action and passion are the same motion,[54] so the significata of terms in these two categories could not be regarded as really distinct entities. But several authors also argued for the identification of relations with their foundations, that is to say, for the identity of the significata of relative terms with the significata of terms in the categories quantity and quality. (For example, on this conception, my equality in height to you would be just my height, provided you were of the same height, and not a distinct “equality-thing” somehow attached to my height, caused by our equal heights.)[55]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

9. Universals in the Via Moderna

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

By contrast, what makes the via moderna approach simpler is that it “automatically” achieves such identifications already on the basis of its semantic principles. Since in this approach the significata of concrete common terms are just the singulars directly represented by the corresponding concepts, the significata and (personal) supposita of terms are taken to be the same singulars from the beginning. So these common terms signify and supposit for the same things either absolutely, provided the term is absolute, or in relation to other singulars, provided the term is connotative. But even in the case of connotative terms, such as relative terms (in fact, all terms in the nine accidental categories, except for some abstract terms in the category quality, according to Ockham) we do not need to assume the existence of some mysterious relational entities informing singular substances. For example, the term ‘father’ need not be construed as signifying in me an inherent relation, my fatherhood, somehow connecting me to my son, and suppositing for me on that account in the context of a proposition; rather, it should merely be construed as signifying me in relation to my son, thereby suppositing for me in the context of a proposition, while connoting my son.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

10. The Separation of the Viae, and the Breakdown of Scholastic Discourse in Late-Medieval Philosophy

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

The appeal of the simplicity of the via moderna approach, especially as it was systematically articulated in the works of John Buridan and his students, had a tremendous impact on late-medieval philosophy and theology. To be sure, many late-medieval scholars, who were familiar with both ways, would have shared the sentiment expressed by the remark of Domingo Soto (1494–1560, describing himself as someone who was “born among nominalists and raised by realists”)[56] to the effect that whereas the realist doctrine of the via antiqua was more difficult to understand, still, the nominalist doctrine of the via moderna was more difficult to believe.[57] Nevertheless, the overall simplicity and internal consistency of the nominalist approach were undeniable, gathering a strong following by the 15th century in all major universities of Europe, old and newly established alike.[58]

The Medieval Problem of Universals

10. The Separation of the Viae, and the Breakdown of Scholastic Discourse in Late-Medieval Philosophy

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

The resulting separation and the ensuing struggle of the medieval viae did not end with the victory of the one over the other. Instead, due to the primarily semantic nature of the separation, getting the parties embroiled in increasingly complicated ways of talking past each other, thereby generating an ever growing dissatisfaction, even contempt, in a new, lay, humanist intelligentsia,[59] it ended with the demise of the characteristically medieval conceptual frameworks of both viae in the late-medieval and early modern period.

The Medieval Problem of Universals

10. The Separation of the Viae, and the Breakdown of Scholastic Discourse in Late-Medieval Philosophy

universals-medieval

First published Sun Sep 10, 2000; substantive revision Sun Feb 27, 2022

These developments, therefore, also put an end to the specifically medieval problem of universals. However, the increasingly rarified late-medieval problem eventually vanished only to give way to several modern variants of recognizably the same problem, which keeps recurring in one form or another in contemporary philosophy as well. Indeed, one may safely assert that as long as there is interest in the questions of how a human language obviously abounding in universal terms can be meaningfully mapped onto a world of singulars, there is a problem of universals, regardless of the details of the particular conceptual framework in which the relevant questions are articulated. Clearly, in this sense, the problem of universals is itself a universal, the universal problem of accounting for the relationships between mind, language, and reality.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Though the first systematic account of utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), the core insight motivating the theory occurred much earlier. That insight is that morally appropriate behavior will not harm others, but instead increase happiness or ‘utility.’ What is distinctive about utilitarianism is its approach in taking that insight and developing an account of moral evaluation and moral direction that expands on it. Early precursors to the Classical Utilitarians include the British Moralists, Cumberland, Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Gay, and Hume. Of these, Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746) is explicitly utilitarian when it comes to action choice.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Some of the earliest utilitarian thinkers were the ‘theological’ utilitarians such as Richard Cumberland (1631–1718) and John Gay (1699–1745). They believed that promoting human happiness was incumbent on us since it was approved by God. After enumerating the ways in which humans come under obligations (by perceiving the “natural consequences of things”, the obligation to be virtuous, our civil obligations that arise from laws, and obligations arising from “the authority of God”) John Gay writes: “…from the consideration of these four sorts of obligation…it is evident that a full and complete obligation which will extend to all cases, can only be that arising from the authority of God; because God only can in all cases make a man happy or miserable: and therefore, since we are always obliged to that conformity called virtue, it is evident that the immediate rule or criterion of it is the will of God” (R, 412). Gay held that since God wants the happiness of mankind, and since God's will gives us the criterion of virtue, “…the happiness of mankind may be said to be the criterion of virtue, but once removed” (R, 413). This view was combined with a view of human motivation with egoistic elements. A person's individual salvation, her eternal happiness, depended on conformity to God's will, as did virtue itself. Promoting human happiness and one's own coincided, but, given God's design, it was not an accidental coincidence.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

This approach to utilitarianism, however, is not theoretically clean in the sense that it isn't clear what essential work God does, at least in terms of normative ethics. God as the source of normativity is compatible with utilitarianism, but utilitarianism doesn't require this.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Gay's influence on later writers, such as Hume, deserves note. It is in Gay's essay that some of the questions that concerned Hume on the nature of virtue are addressed. For example, Gay was curious about how to explain our practice of approbation and disapprobation of action and character. When we see an act that is vicious we disapprove of it. Further, we associate certain things with their effects, so that we form positive associations and negative associations that also underwrite our moral judgments. Of course, that we view happiness, including the happiness of others as a good, is due to God's design. This is a feature crucial to the theological approach, which would clearly be rejected by Hume in favor of a naturalistic view of human nature and a reliance on our sympathetic engagement with others, an approach anticipated by Shaftesbury (below). The theological approach to utilitarianism would be developed later by William Paley, for example, but the lack of any theoretical necessity in appealing to God would result in its diminishing appeal.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713) is generally thought to have been the one of the earliest ‘moral sense’ theorists, holding that we possess a kind of “inner eye” that allows us to make moral discriminations. This seems to have been an innate sense of right and wrong, or moral beauty and deformity. Again, aspects of this doctrine would be picked up by Francis Hutcheson and David Hume (1711–1776). Hume, of course, would clearly reject any robust realist implications. If the moral sense is like the other perceptual senses and enables us to pick up on properties out there in the universe around us, properties that exist independent from our perception of them, that are objective, then Hume clearly was not a moral sense theorist in this regard. But perception picks up on features of our environment that one could regard as having a contingent quality. There is one famous passage where Hume likens moral discrimination to the perception of secondary qualities, such as color. In modern terminology, these are response-dependent properties, and lack objectivity in the sense that they do not exist independent of our responses. This is radical. If an act is vicious, its viciousness is a matter of the human response (given a corrected perspective) to the act (or its perceived effects) and thus has a kind of contingency that seems unsettling, certainly unsettling to those who opted for the theological option.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

So, the view that it is part of our very nature to make moral discriminations is very much in Hume. Further — and what is relevant to the development of utilitarianism — the view of Shaftesbury that the virtuous person contributes to the good of the whole — would figure into Hume's writings, though modified. It is the virtue that contributes to the good of the whole system, in the case of Hume's artificial virtues.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Shaftesbury held that in judging someone virtuous or good in a moral sense we need to perceive that person's impact on the systems of which he or she is a part. Here it sometimes becomes difficult to disentangle egoistic versus utilitarian lines of thought in Shaftesbury. He clearly states that whatever guiding force there is has made nature such that it is “…the private interest and good of every one, to work towards the general good, which if a creature ceases to promote, he is actually so far wanting to himself, and ceases to promote his own happiness and welfare…” (R, 188). It is hard, sometimes, to discern the direction of the ‘because’ — if one should act to help others because it supports a system in which one's own happiness is more likely, then it looks really like a form of egoism. If one should help others because that's the right thing to do — and, fortunately, it also ends up promoting one's own interests, then that's more like utilitarianism, since the promotion of self-interest is a welcome effect but not what, all by itself, justifies one's character or actions.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Further, to be virtuous a person must have certain psychological capacities — they must be able to reflect on character, for example, and represent to themselves the qualities in others that are either approved or disapproved of.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

…in this case alone it is we call any creature worthy or virtuous when it can have the notion of a public interest, and can attain the speculation or science of what is morally good or ill, admirable or blameable, right or wrong….we never say of….any mere beast, idiot, or changeling, though ever so good-natured, that he is worthy or virtuous. (Shaftesbury IVM; BKI, PII, sec. iii)

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Thus, animals are not objects of moral appraisal on the view, since they lack the necessary reflective capacities. Animals also lack the capacity for moral discrimination and would therefore seem to lack the moral sense. This raises some interesting questions. It would seem that the moral sense is a perception that something is the case. So it isn't merely a discriminatory sense that allows us to sort perceptions. It also has a propositional aspect, so that animals, which are not lacking in other senses are lacking in this one.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

The virtuous person is one whose affections, motives, dispositions are of the right sort, not one whose behavior is simply of the right sort and who is able to reflect on goodness, and her own goodness [see Gill]. Similarly, the vicious person is one who exemplifies the wrong sorts of mental states, affections, and so forth. A person who harms others through no fault of his own “…because he has convulsive fits which make him strike and wound such as approach him” is not vicious since he has no desire to harm anyone and his bodily movements in this case are beyond his control.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Shaftesbury approached moral evaluation via the virtues and vices. His utilitarian leanings are distinct from his moral sense approach, and his overall sentimentalism. However, this approach highlights the move away from egoistic views of human nature — a trend picked up by Hutcheson and Hume, and later adopted by Mill in criticism of Bentham's version of utilitarianism. For writers like Shaftesbury and Hutcheson the main contrast was with egoism rather than rationalism.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Like Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson was very much interested in virtue evaluation. He also adopted the moral sense approach. However, in his writings we also see an emphasis on action choice and the importance of moral deliberation to action choice. Hutcheson, in An Inquiry Concerning Moral Good and Evil, fairly explicitly spelled out a utilitarian principle of action choice. (Joachim Hruschka (1991) notes, however, that it was Leibniz who first spelled out a utilitarian decision procedure.)

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

….In comparing the moral qualities of actions…we are led by our moral sense of virtue to judge thus; that in equal degrees of happiness, expected to proceed from the action, the virtue is in proportion to the number of persons to whom the happiness shall extend (and here the dignity, or moral importance of persons, may compensate numbers); and, in equal numbers, the virtue is the quantity of the happiness, or natural good; or that the virtue is in a compound ratio of the quantity of good, and number of enjoyers….so that that action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers; and that worst, which, in like manner, occasions misery. (R, 283–4)

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Scarre notes that some hold the moral sense approach incompatible with this emphasis on the use of reason to determine what we ought to do; there is an opposition between just apprehending what's morally significant and a model in which we need to reason to figure out what morality demands of us. But Scarre notes these are not actually incompatible:

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

The picture which emerges from Hutcheson's discussion is of a division of labor, in which the moral sense causes us to look with favor on actions which benefit others and disfavor those which harm them, while consequentialist reasoning determines a more precise ranking order of practical options in given situations. (Scarre, 53–54)

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Scarre then uses the example of telling a lie to illustrate: lying is harmful to the person to whom one lies, and so this is viewed with disfavor, in general. However, in a specific case, if a lie is necessary to achieve some notable good, consequentialist reasoning will lead us to favor the lying. But this example seems to put all the emphasis on a consideration of consequences in moral approval and disapproval. Stephen Darwall notes (1995, 216 ff.) that the moral sense is concerned with motives — we approve, for example, of the motive of benevolence, and the wider the scope the better. It is the motives rather than the consequences that are the objects of approval and disapproval. But inasmuch as the morally good person cares about what happens to others, and of course she will, she will rank order acts in terms of their effects on others, and reason is used in calculating effects. So there is no incompatibility at all.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Hutcheson was committed to maximization, it seems. However, he insisted on a caveat — that “the dignity or moral importance of persons may compensate numbers.” He added a deontological constraint — that we have a duty to others in virtue of their personhood to accord them fundamental dignity regardless of the numbers of others whose happiness is to be affected by the action in question.

The History of Utilitarianism

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Hume was heavily influenced by Hutcheson, who was one of his teachers. His system also incorporates insights made by Shaftesbury, though he certainly lacks Shaftesbury's confidence that virtue is its own reward. In terms of his place in the history of utilitarianism we should note two distinct effects his system had. Firstly, his account of the social utility of the artificial virtues influenced Bentham's thought on utility. Secondly, his account of the role sentiment played in moral judgment and commitment to moral norms influenced Mill's thoughts about the internal sanctions of morality. Mill would diverge from Bentham in developing the ‘altruistic’ approach to Utilitarianism (which is actually a misnomer, but more on that later). Bentham, in contrast to Mill, represented the egoistic branch — his theory of human nature reflected Hobbesian psychological egoism.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

The Classical Utilitarians, Bentham and Mill, were concerned with legal and social reform. If anything could be identified as the fundamental motivation behind the development of Classical Utilitarianism it would be the desire to see useless, corrupt laws and social practices changed. Accomplishing this goal required a normative ethical theory employed as a critical tool. What is the truth about what makes an action or a policy a morally good one, or morally right? But developing the theory itself was also influenced by strong views about what was wrong in their society. The conviction that, for example, some laws are bad resulted in analysis of why they were bad. And, for Jeremy Bentham, what made them bad was their lack of utility, their tendency to lead to unhappiness and misery without any compensating happiness. If a law or an action doesn't do any good, then it isn't any good.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.1 Jeremy Bentham

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was influenced both by Hobbes' account of human nature and Hume's account of social utility. He famously held that humans were ruled by two sovereign masters — pleasure and pain. We seek pleasure and the avoidance of pain, they “…govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think…” (Bentham PML, 1). Yet he also promulgated the principle of utility as the standard of right action on the part of governments and individuals. Actions are approved when they are such as to promote happiness, or pleasure, and disapproved of when they have a tendency to cause unhappiness, or pain (PML). Combine this criterion of rightness with a view that we should be actively trying to promote overall happiness, and one has a serious incompatibility with psychological egoism. Thus, his apparent endorsement of Hobbesian psychological egoism created problems in understanding his moral theory since psychological egoism rules out acting to promote the overall well-being when that it is incompatible with one's own. For the psychological egoist, that is not even a possibility. So, given ‘ought implies can’ it would follow that we are not obligated to act to promote overall well-being when that is incompatible with our own. This generates a serious tension in Bentham's thought, one that was drawn to his attention. He sometimes seemed to think that he could reconcile the two commitments empirically, that is, by noting that when people act to promote the good they are helping themselves, too. But this claim only serves to muddy the waters, since the standard understanding of psychological egoism — and Bentham's own statement of his view — identifies motives of action which are self-interested. Yet this seems, again, in conflict with his own specification of the method for making moral decisions which is not to focus on self-interest — indeed, the addition of extent as a parameter along which to measure pleasure produced distinguishes this approach from ethical egoism. Aware of the difficulty, in later years he seemed to pull back from a full-fledged commitment to psychological egoism, admitting that people do sometimes act benevolently — with the overall good of humanity in mind.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.1 Jeremy Bentham

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Bentham also benefited from Hume's work, though in many ways their approaches to moral philosophy were completely different. Hume rejected the egoistic view of human nature. Hume also focused on character evaluation in his system. Actions are significant as evidence of character, but only have this derivative significance. In moral evaluation the main concern is that of character. Yet Bentham focused on act-evaluation. There was a tendency — remarked on by J. B. Schneewind (1990), for example — to move away from focus on character evaluation after Hume and towards act-evaluation. Recall that Bentham was enormously interested in social reform. Indeed, reflection on what was morally problematic about laws and policies influenced his thinking on utility as a standard. When one legislates, however, one is legislating in support of, or against, certain actions. Character — that is, a person's true character — is known, if known at all, only by that person. If one finds the opacity of the will thesis plausible then character, while theoretically very interesting, isn't a practical focus for legislation. Further, as Schneewind notes, there was an increasing sense that focus on character would actually be disruptive, socially, particularly if one's view was that a person who didn't agree with one on a moral issues was defective in terms of his or her character, as opposed to simply making a mistake reflected in action.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.1 Jeremy Bentham

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

But Bentham does take from Hume the view that utility is the measure of virtue — that is, utility more broadly construed than Hume's actual usage of the term. This is because Hume made a distinction between pleasure that the perception of virtue generates in the observer, and social utility, which consisted in a trait's having tangible benefits for society, any instance of which may or may not generate pleasure in the observer. But Bentham is not simply reformulating a Humean position — he's merely been influenced by Hume's arguments to see pleasure as a measure or standard of moral value. So, why not move from pleasurable responses to traits to pleasure as a kind of consequence which is good, and in relation to which, actions are morally right or wrong? Bentham, in making this move, avoids a problem for Hume. On Hume's view it seems that the response — corrected, to be sure — determines the trait's quality as a virtue or vice. But on Bentham's view the action (or trait) is morally good, right, virtuous in view of the consequences it generates, the pleasure or utility it produces, which could be completely independent of what our responses are to the trait. So, unless Hume endorses a kind of ideal observer test for virtue, it will be harder for him to account for how it is people make mistakes in evaluations of virtue and vice. Bentham, on the other hand, can say that people may not respond to the actions good qualities — perhaps they don't perceive the good effects. But as long as there are these good effects which are, on balance, better than the effects of any alternative course of action, then the action is the right one. Rhetorically, anyway, one can see why this is an important move for Bentham to be able to make. He was a social reformer. He felt that people often had responses to certain actions — of pleasure or disgust — that did not reflect anything morally significant at all. Indeed, in his discussions of homosexuality, for example, he explicitly notes that ‘antipathy’ is not sufficient reason to legislate against a practice:

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.1 Jeremy Bentham

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

The circumstances from which this antipathy may have taken its rise may be worth enquiring to…. One is the physical antipathy to the offence…. The act is to the highest degree odious and disgusting, that is, not to the man who does it, for he does it only because it gives him pleasure, but to one who thinks [?] of it. Be it so, but what is that to him? (Bentham OAO, v. 4, 94)

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.1 Jeremy Bentham

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Bentham then notes that people are prone to use their physical antipathy as a pretext to transition to moral antipathy, and the attending desire to punish the persons who offend their taste. This is illegitimate on his view for a variety of reasons, one of which is that to punish a person for violations of taste, or on the basis of prejudice, would result in runaway punishments, “…one should never know where to stop…” The prejudice in question can be dealt with by showing it “to be ill-grounded”. This reduces the antipathy to the act in question. This demonstrates an optimism in Bentham. If a pain can be demonstrated to be based on false beliefs then he believes that it can be altered or at the very least ‘assuaged and reduced’. This is distinct from the view that a pain or pleasure based on a false belief should be discounted. Bentham does not believe the latter. Thus Bentham's hedonism is a very straightforward hedonism. The one intrinsic good is pleasure, the bad is pain. We are to promote pleasure and act to reduce pain. When called upon to make a moral decision one measures an action's value with respect to pleasure and pain according to the following: intensity (how strong the pleasure or pain is), duration (how long it lasts), certainty (how likely the pleasure or pain is to be the result of the action), proximity (how close the sensation will be to performance of the action), fecundity (how likely it is to lead to further pleasures or pains), purity (how much intermixture there is with the other sensation). One also considers extent — the number of people affected by the action.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.1 Jeremy Bentham

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Keeping track of all of these parameters can be complicated and time consuming. Bentham does not recommend that they figure into every act of moral deliberation because of the efficiency costs which need to be considered. Experience can guide us. We know that the pleasure of kicking someone is generally outweighed by the pain inflicted on that person, so such calculations when confronted with a temptation to kick someone are unnecessary. It is reasonable to judge it wrong on the basis of past experience or consensus. One can use ‘rules of thumb’ to guide action, but these rules are overridable when abiding by them would conflict with the promotion of the good.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.1 Jeremy Bentham

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Bentham's view was surprising to many at the time at least in part because he viewed the moral quality of an action to be determined instrumentally. It isn't so much that there is a particular kind of action that is intrinsically wrong; actions that are wrong are wrong simply in virtue of their effects, thus, instrumentally wrong. This cut against the view that there are some actions that by their very nature are just wrong, regardless of their effects. Some may be wrong because they are ‘unnatural’ — and, again, Bentham would dismiss this as a legitimate criterion. Some may be wrong because they violate liberty, or autonomy. Again, Bentham would view liberty and autonomy as good — but good instrumentally, not intrinsically. Thus, any action deemed wrong due to a violation of autonomy is derivatively wrong on instrumental grounds as well. This is interesting in moral philosophy — as it is far removed from the Kantian approach to moral evaluation as well as from natural law approaches. It is also interesting in terms of political philosophy and social policy. On Bentham's view the law is not monolithic and immutable. Since effects of a given policy may change, the moral quality of the policy may change as well. Nancy Rosenblum noted that for Bentham one doesn't simply decide on good laws and leave it at that: “Lawmaking must be recognized as a continual process in response to diverse and changing desires that require adjustment” (Rosenblum 1978, 9). A law that is good at one point in time may be a bad law at some other point in time. Thus, lawmakers have to be sensitive to changing social circumstances. To be fair to Bentham's critics, of course, they are free to agree with him that this is the case in many situations, just not all — and that there is still a subset of laws that reflect the fact that some actions just are intrinsically wrong regardless of consequences. Bentham is in the much more difficult position of arguing that effects are all there are to moral evaluation of action and policy.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.2 John Stuart Mill

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) was a follower of Bentham, and, through most of his life, greatly admired Bentham's work even though he disagreed with some of Bentham's claims — particularly on the nature of ‘happiness.’ Bentham, recall, had held that there were no qualitative differences between pleasures, only quantitative ones. This left him open to a variety of criticisms. First, Bentham's Hedonism was too egalitarian. Simple-minded pleasures, sensual pleasures, were just as good, at least intrinsically, than more sophisticated and complex pleasures. The pleasure of drinking a beer in front of the T.V. surely doesn't rate as highly as the pleasure one gets solving a complicated math problem, or reading a poem, or listening to Mozart. Second, Bentham's view that there were no qualitative differences in pleasures also left him open to the complaint that on his view human pleasures were of no more value than animal pleasures and, third, committed him to the corollary that the moral status of animals, tied to their sentience, was the same as that of humans. While harming a puppy and harming a person are both bad, however, most people had the view that harming the person was worse. Mill sought changes to the theory that could accommodate those sorts of intuitions.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.2 John Stuart Mill

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

To this end, Mill's hedonism was influenced by perfectionist intuitions. There are some pleasures that are more fitting than others. Intellectual pleasures are of a higher, better, sort than the ones that are merely sensual, and that we share with animals. To some this seems to mean that Mill really wasn't a hedonistic utilitarian. His view of the good did radically depart from Bentham's view. However, like Bentham, the good still consists in pleasure, it is still a psychological state. There is certainly that similarity. Further, the basic structures of the theories are the same (for more on this see Donner 1991). While it is true that Mill is more comfortable with notions like ‘rights’ this does not mean that he, in actuality, rejected utilitarianism. The rationale for all the rights he recognizes is utilitarian.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.2 John Stuart Mill

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Mill's ‘proof’ of the claim that intellectual pleasures are better in kind than others, though, is highly suspect. He doesn't attempt a mere appeal to raw intuition. Instead, he argues that those persons who have experienced both view the higher as better than the lower. Who would rather be a happy oyster, living an enormously long life, than a person living a normal life? Or, to use his most famous example — it is better to be Socrates ‘dissatisfied’ than a fool ‘satisfied.’ In this way Mill was able to solve a problem for utilitarianism.

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.2 John Stuart Mill

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Mill also argued that the principle could be proven, using another rather notorious argument:

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.2 John Stuart Mill

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible is that people actually see it…. In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable is that people do actually desire it. If the end which the utilitarian doctrine proposes to itself were not, in theory and in practiced, acknowledged to be an end, nothing could ever convince any person that it was so. (Mill, U, 81)

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.2 John Stuart Mill

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

Mill then continues to argue that people desire happiness — the utilitarian end — and that the general happiness is “a good to the aggregate of all persons.” (81)

The History of Utilitarianism

2. The Classical Approach

2.2 John Stuart Mill

utilitarianism-history

First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014

G. E. Moore (1873–1958) criticized this as fallacious. He argued that it rested on an obvious ambiguity: