NOMINALISM

NOMINALISM
   the theory of knowledge which teaches that UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS, such as "human" "tree" etc., have no independent separate REALITY but are simply names used to identify things with similar characteristics. The most extreme nominalist was WILLIAM OF OCKHAM who argued that only individuals exist and that universal concepts are no more than sounds.

Concise dictionary of Religion. 2012.

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  • Nominalism — nominalism …   Philosophy dictionary

  • Nominalism — is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist.[1] Thus, there are at least two… …   Wikipedia

  • nominalism — NOMINALÍSM s.n. Curent în filozofia medievală care susţinea că numai lucrurile individuale au existenţă reală, în timp ce noţiunile generale sunt simple cuvinte, nume ale acestor lucruri. – Din fr. nominalisme. Trimis de ana zecheru, 08.06.2004.… …   Dicționar Român

  • nominalism —    Nominalism is the view, opposed to realism (also called Platonism ), that universals (such as truth, beauty and goodness) do not have a mind independent existence, but are merely linguistic items. The debate between nominalism and realism… …   Christian Philosophy

  • Nominalism — Nom i*nal*ism, n. The principles or philosophy of the Nominalists. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • nominalism — (n.) 1820, view that treats abstract concepts as names only, not realities, from Fr. nominalisme (1752), from nominal, from L. nominalis (see NOMINAL (Cf. nominal)). Related: Nominalist …   Etymology dictionary

  • nominalism — [näm′i nəliz΄əm] n. [Fr nominalisme: see NOMINAL & ISM] a philosophical doctrine of the late Middle Ages that all universal or abstract terms are mere necessities of thought or conveniences of language and therefore exist as names only with no… …   English World dictionary

  • nominalism — nominalist, n. nominalistic, adj. nominalistically, adv. /nom euh nl iz euhm/, n. (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… …   Universalium

  • nominalism — (Lat., belonging to a name) The view that things denominated by the same term share nothing except that fact: what all chairs have in common is that they are called ‘chairs’. The doctrine is usually associated with the thought that everything… …   Philosophy dictionary

  • Nominalism — The principle of keeping the amount of a debt obligation fixed despite fluctuations in the money s purchasing power or exchange rate. Nominalism puts the risk of depreciation on the creditor and the risk of appreciation on the debtor …   Investment dictionary

  • Nominalism, Realism, Conceptualism — • The theories that have been proposed as solutions of the problem of universals Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Nominalism, Realism, Conceptualism     Nominalism, Realism, Conceptualism …   Catholic encyclopedia

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