conceptualism
Americannoun
noun
-
the philosophical theory that the application of general words to a variety of objects reflects the existence of some mental entity through which the application is mediated and which constitutes the meaning of the term Compare nominalism realism Platonism
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the philosophical view that there is no reality independent of our conception of it, or (as in the philosophy of Kant) that the intellect is not a merely passive recipient of experience but rather imposes a structure on it
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of conceptualism
First recorded in 1830–40; conceptual + -ism
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the 1980s, the school was emerging as a center of conceptualism and ventures in mixed media.
From New York Times • Oct. 7, 2021
Like Tate before it, MoMA will no longer bandy around terms such as cubism, post-impressionism, abstract expressionism, or conceptualism in its labels.
From The Guardian • Oct. 16, 2019
In 2009, her works was featured in the inaugural triennial at the New Museum, “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” — where her small, yet powerfully ribald paintings stood out amid a surplus of chilly conceptualism.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 21, 2019
It was moving, and also undaunted — a dash of capitalist conceptualism hiding in plain sight.
From New York Times • Aug. 22, 2019
The view of Socrates is the meeting-point of the other two, just as conceptualism is the meeting-point of nominalism and realism.
From Cratylus by Jowett, Benjamin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
