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a.1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Life of John Dryden, Esq.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden,, volume I, London: J and R Tonson,, published 1760, →OCLC, page xiii:
[John] Dryden's univerſal genius, his firmly eſtablished reputation, and the glory his memory muſt always reflect upon the nation that gave him birth, make us ardently wiſh for a more accurate life of him than any which has hitherto appeared: […]
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When we examine common words, we find that, broadly speaking, proper names stand for particulars, while other substantives, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs stand for universals.
1970, John R. Searle, Speech acts:
We might also distinguish those expressions which are used to refer to individuals or particulars from those which are used to refer to what philosophers have called universals: e.g., to distinguish such expressions as "Everest" and "this chair" from "the number three", "the color red" and "drunkenness".
Empiricism was similarly a response to this loss of universals—a radically contingent world with no underlying order must constantly be studied and tested—and made God himself unnecessary: divine spirit and human spirit were alien enough to each other that they could function without taking each other into account.
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.