p Every object possesses a number of particular, intrinsic features. Let us take the poplar next to our home. It has size, a certain number of branches arranged in a particular way, special configuration of the roots and some other features.

p Every man has his own idiosyncrasies, abilities and habits, interests and inclinations, gait and manner of speech. This is what singles him out from hundreds of millions of other people inhabiting our planet.

p The poplar, the man, the individual object or phenomenon of the material world are the individual or the particular.

p Anything particular or individual, however, does not exist by itself; it is connected with other objects and phenomena. A man lives on Earth where there are many other people. He has much in common with them being connected with them by thousands of the most diverse threads. He has a vocation, and this means that he possesses some 123 features inherent in all people of that vocation. Man belongs to a definite class and a definite nation, therefore he has certain national and class distinctions. All people possess such features as anatomo-physiological structure, ability to feel and think, to work and speak, etc. Similarly, each object, besides having its own peculiar, individual features, has features in common with other objects.

The universal is that which is present in many individual, particular objects. While individual features set the given object apart from others, the universal draws it together with these other objects, connects it with them and places it in a definite species or class of homogeneous objects.