  The other problem is the classic one: what happens to a universal if all its instances are destroyed? Can universals exist without being instantiated? The definition of the inherence relation permits this, for the requirement is that cows cannot exist without cowhood, not vice versa. We might say that the cow’s existence supervenes on that of the universal cowhood. However, it is not so clear that we can say in the same way that the parts (of a car, say) cannot exist unless the whole (car) exists.