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In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] There are two main versions of nominalism. One denies the existence of universals – that which can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things (e.g., strength, humanity).
Literary nominalism is a paradigm of thought that is interested in the interconnections between certain aspects of nominalist philosophy and theology and works of literature. History of the term [ edit ]
Philosophers who affirm the existence of abstract objects are sometimes called Platonists; those who deny their existence are sometimes called nominalists. The terms "Platonism" and "nominalism" also have established senses in the history of philosophy. They denote positions that have little to do with the modern notion of an abstract object. [2]
William of Ockham was a pioneer of nominalism, and some consider him the father of modern epistemology, because of his strongly argued position that only individuals exist, rather than supra-individual universals, essences, or forms, and that universals are the products of abstraction from individuals by the human mind and have no extra-mental ...
Quinton's version of class nominalism asserts that determining which are the natural property classes is simply a basic fact that is not open to any further philosophical scrutiny. Armstrong argues that whatever it is which picks out the natural classes is not derived from the membership of that class, but from some fact about the particular ...
Nominalism [ edit ] According to Otto of Freisingen , Roscellinus "was the first in our times to institute the theory of words", [ 4 ] but the chronicler of the "Historia Francia" [ 5 ] mentions before him a "magister Johannes", whose personality is much discussed and who has not yet been definitively identified.
Etymology, terminology and definition [ edit ] The etymological origin of nihilism is the Latin root word nihil , meaning 'nothing', which is similarly found in the related terms annihilate , meaning 'to bring to nothing', [ 5 ] and nihility , meaning ' nothingness '. [ 21 ]
He grounded his definition of "noble rhetoric" in the work of Plato; such rhetoric aimed to improve intellect by presenting men with "better versions of themselves". [46] He also agreed with Plato's notions of the realities of transcendentals (recall Weaver's hostility to nominalism) and the connection between form and substance. [47]