In this lesson, Salmieri explains Aristotle’s theory of universals and how that theory makes possible scientific understanding (epistēmē) of this world based on sense-perception. The lesson explains that universal knowledge, for Aristotle, is a power to know particulars as falling under kinds. Salmieri concludes with a discussion of a famous chapter of the Posterior Analytics, in which Aristotle uses a battlefield metaphor to explain how we grasp universals.

This course includes a handout.