Individual and Species

The Earth both spins on its axis and revolves around the Sun, and while distinct, the two motions regularly combine, e. g. the Summer Solstice is the 'longest day'.  Also, other familiar phenomena may be due to relations with planets in other solar systems.  In any case, the example illustrates one of the limitations of both Atomism and Nominalism, since the Earth clearly simultaneously has both properties that are specific to it as an individual planet, and those that are a function of it as one of a solar system.  Furthermore, the relations of the Earth to other planets in the system are ultimately at least partly centrally determined.  But, while these distinctions are usefully drawn in Astronomical study, Economics, both Capitalism and Socialism, remains bogged down by an Atomism and a Nominalism that are explicit in the former and implicit in the latter.  Thus, remaining unexamined by either is that the behavior of individuals can be co-determined by both internal drives and social forces, and that interpersonal relations can be grounded in a species principle.