Nominalism
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Nominalism is the metaphysical philosophy of Nominalists that universals and abstract realities have no real existence, and that their designation as existing realities is a convention of names and language and an illusion. It is opposed to the metaphysical philosophy of Realism. Conceptualism designates several metaphysical doctrines proposing a compromise between realism and nominalism which regard universals as concepts. Compare Idea and Idealism; also Solipsism and Objectivism.