Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science
Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science
Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science
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are various controversies about relations which need not be explicitly<br />
referred to. But there is one discussion which illustrates our immediate<br />
topic.<br />
It is generally held that relations are universals, so that A can have the<br />
same relation to B as C has to D. For example 'loving', 'believing',<br />
'between', 'greater than', are relations. <strong>The</strong>re can be no objection to<br />
this doctrine. For it is a mere definition. Universals which require two or<br />
more particulars for their illustration need some term to indicate them,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Relation is the word chosen.<br />
But with this meaning to the term, a relation cannot signify the actual<br />
connectedness <strong>of</strong> the actual individual things which constitute the actual<br />
course <strong>of</strong> history. For example, New York les between Boston <strong>and</strong><br />
Philadelphia. But the connectedness <strong>of</strong> the three towns is a real<br />
particular fact on the earth's surface involving a particular part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
eastern seaboard <strong>of</strong> the United States. It is not the universal 'between'.<br />
It is a complex actual fact which, among other things, exemplifies the<br />
abstract universal 'betweenness'.<br />
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