Particulars, modes and universals: an examination of E.J. Lowe's four-fold ontology

Is there a particular-universal distinction? Ramsey famously advocated scepticism about this distinction. In ?Some Formal Ontological Relations? E.J. Lowe argues against Ramsey that a particular-universal distinction can be made out after all if only we allow ourselves the resources to distinguish between the elements of a four-fold ontology. But in defence of Ramsey I argue that the case remains to be made in favour of either (1) the four-fold ontology Lowe recommends or (2) the articulation of a particular-universal distinction within it. I also argue that the case remains to be made against (3) a spatio-temporal conception of the particular-universal distinction.