nominalism

American  

[nom-uh-nl-iz-uhm] / ˈnɒm ə nlˌɪz əm /

noun

1. (in medieval philosophy) the doctrine that general or abstract words do not stand for objectively existing entities and that universals are no more than names assigned to them.

---

nominalism British  

/ ˈnɒmɪnəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. the philosophical theory that the variety of objects to which a single general word, such as dog, applies have nothing in common but the name Compare conceptualism realism

---

Other Word Forms

• nominalist noun
• nominalistic adjective
• nominalistically adverb
• nonnominalistic adjective
• unnominalistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of nominalism

From the French word nominalisme, dating back to 1830–40. See nominal, -ism

Example Sentences

At the U.N., he rejected a “declarationist nominalism which would assuage our consciences.”

From The New Yorker • Sep. 30, 2015

Such is the magnitude of these situations and their toll in innocent lives, that we must avoid every temptation to fall into a declarationist nominalism which would assuage our consciences.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 25, 2015

The excesses and failures of idealist theories of knowledge have always given rise in history to the opposite theory of sensualist nominalism, according to which our ideas are simply transformed sensations.

From Outlines of a Philosophy of Religion based on Psychology and History by Sabatier, Auguste

In the fourteenth, nominalism revived in Occam; the provinces of faith and philosophy were severed, and the final victory on the metaphysical question remained in the hands of the nominalists.

From History of Free Thought in Reference to The Christian Religion by Farrar, Adam Storey

By Ontology we may designate the standing controversies of the intellectual powers—perception, innate ideas, nominalism versus realism, and noumenon versus phenomenon.

From Practical Essays by Bain, Alexander