LessonsFour Relations Between Universals and Relative ParticularityQuiz

أو يصدق أحدهما على كل ما يصدق عليه الآخر، ولا يصدق الآخر على جميع أفراد أحدهما، فبينهما عموم وخصوص مطلقا، كالحيوان والإنسان،
Or if one universal applies to everything to which the other applies, but the other does not apply to every instance of the first, they stand in absolute generality and specificity, as with animal and human.

Here animal is absolutely more general and human absolutely more specific:
Every human is an animal.
Not every animal is human: a horse is an animal but not a human.

“More general” and “more specific” describe a relationship between the chosen concepts, not permanent labels independent of comparison.

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Absolute generality and specificity

Four Relations Between Universals and Relative Particularity

أو يصدق أحدهما على كل ما يصدق عليه الآخر، ولا يصدق الآخر على جميع أفراد أحدهما، فبينهما عموم وخصوص مطلقا، كالحيوان والإنسان،
Or if one universal applies to everything to which the other applies, but the other does not apply to every instance of the first, they stand in absolute generality and specificity, as with animal and human.

Here animal is absolutely more general and human absolutely more specific:
Every human is an animal.
Not every animal is human: a horse is an animal but not a human.

“More general” and “more specific” describe a relationship between the chosen concepts, not permanent labels independent of comparison.