universals (universality)

n. 1. In psychology, any cognitive forms or functions that appear in all people (or all members of another species) in all cultures and environments, but which may be given form by the culture or environment, such as parental care for infants. 2. In linguistics, a feature of all known human languages such as words and sentences. 3. In philosophy, either an essence, such as dogness that allows us to recognize a dog as a dog, or a proposition that is true in all possible contexts without creating a contradiction.