Both statements about human can hold:
1. Human is a universal: Zayd, Amr, Khalid and many others fall under it.
2. Human is a relative particular: it is narrower than animal and falls under that more general concept.
There is no contradiction. The first concerns application to individual humans; the second concerns comparison with animal.
Whenever “particular” is used, we must ask whether real or relative particularity is meant rather than assuming it always refers to a single person.
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Four Relations Between Universals and Relative Particularity
Both statements about human can hold:
1. Human is a universal: Zayd, Amr, Khalid and many others fall under it.
2. Human is a relative particular: it is narrower than animal and falls under that more general concept.
There is no contradiction. The first concerns application to individual humans; the second concerns comparison with animal.
Whenever “particular” is used, we must ask whether real or relative particularity is meant rather than assuming it always refers to a single person.