Boethius' Argument Against Universals In the essay “From His Second Commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge” Boethius discusses the existence of universals.. By proposing two main arguments, he first shows why a view such as that held by Plato (one claiming that universals exist independent of particulars and that a universal exists wholly in each particular at all times) is false. Then he presents his own view of the relationship between universals and particulars which is based on the idea that the universals exist in the collectivity of the particulars. Boethius’ first argument against a Platonic view of uni