Since, then, triangle is the
wider term, and there is one identical definition of triangle-i.e. the
term is not equivocal-and since equality to two right angles belongs
to all triangles, it is isosceles qua triangle and not triangle qua
isosceles which has its angles so related. It follows that he who
knows a connexion universally has greater knowledge of it as it in
fact is than he who knows the particular; and the inference is that
commensurate and universal is superior to particular demonstration.
(2) If there is a single identical definition i.e. if the
commensurate universal is unequivocal-then the universal will
possess being not less but more than some of the particulars, inasmuch
as it is universals which comprise the imperishable, particulars
that tend to perish.
(3) Because the universal has a single meaning, we are not therefore
compelled to suppose that in these examples it has being as a
substance apart from its particulars-any more than we need make a
similar supposition in the other cases of unequivocal universal
predication, viz. where the predicate signifies not substance but
quality, essential relatedness, or action.
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