Metaphysics
Do general kinds, properties, or forms exist beyond the particular things that instantiate them?
Universals are real but exist only in things, abstracted by minds.
Held by Scholasticism
Only particular things exist; universals are concepts or names, not real entities.
Held by Medieval Nominalism
Universals are intelligible Forms independent of the changing particulars that participate in them.
Held by Platonism
Scholastic disputation examines a stated question by presenting objections, authorities, a reasoned determination, and replies to the objections.
The problem of universals asks why many distinct things can be called by one name or understood under one concept. It connects ancient metaphysics, medieval debates, and contemporary work on language and ontology.
The dispute is a pressure point for the whole map: it divides schools by what they think concepts answer to.