nominalism
(ˈnɒmɪnəlɪz(ə)m)
[ad. F. nominalisme (1752); see nominal B. 1. and -ism.]
a. (See quot. 1836.) b. The view which regards universals or abstract concepts as mere names without any corresponding reality.
| 1836 Keble Serm. viii. (1848) 215 The Nominalism of our days; I mean, the habit of resolving the high mysteries of the faith into mere circumstances of language. 1846 [see realism 1]. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 16 In some shape or other, Nominalism and Realism still divide between them the empire of thought. 1885 Pattison Mem. 166 In these years Whately's Logic, or some form of nominalism, predominated in the schools. |