Analogy of Inequality: Generic Predication

One "analogy" (Anderson calls it a quasi-analogy) which is not involved in the notion of analogy of being but which ought to be understood if for not other reason than to exclude it from the analogy of being is the so-called analogy of inequality. It is also referred to as generic predication, although it also seems to encompass specific predication. It is the combination of ontological equivocity (or existential diversity) with conceptual univocity, and it is done all the time as we abstract from the diversity of being we encounter with our senses into genera and species and the other accidents related to substances.*

Univocal Concept of "Man" Predicated of Three Different Men
Analogy of Inequality (Generic Predication)

So, for example, the mental concept or notion of "man" is univocal, but it is used via analogy of inequality (or generic/specific predication) to refer to Socrates, to Plato, and to Hitler. In each an every case the "concept" man refers to the same thing: it is univocal in meaning; there is a conceptual identity in man in each and every case, be he evil or be he good. This univocal concept is applied to ontologically equivocal or existentially diverse men. Hitler is distinct from Socrates is distinct from Plato: ontologically they are distinct or existentially diverse. And yet they all share in the one concept of "man." They are equivocal existential or ontological instantiations of the univocal mental concept of "man." The concept "man" may be said univocally, but the man Socrates is not univocal with the man Plato. We may say the same of trees: "tree is said univocally of all trees, but trees are not univocal [in actual existence]." Anderson (1967), 4.

The analogy of inequality or generic predication is not limited to substances, genera, or species, but it is also found in categories that are described with adjectives. Accordingly the univocal concept of circular may be predicated of both a bucket looked at from a birds-eye view, an abstract geometric shape, or the outline of a quarter.

Univocal Concept of "Circular" Predicated of Bucket, Geometric Shape, and Quarter

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*The univocal concept or conceptual identity in the analogy of inequality refers to "universals or logically common notions abstracted from sense particulars, i.e., from individuals in the world of physically material existence." They may also include categorical ideas, generic or specific. Anderson (1967), 3, 4. Anderson calls the analogy of inequality a "sort of quasi-analogy." Id. 13.