What is the Meaning & Definition of nominalism

The history of philosophy is very enriching and exciting emotional level as that helps you reflect on yourself and on everything that surrounds you. In this article you will find point of care in the philosophical doctrine of nominalism which explains that reality is composed of private entities, i.e., concrete and tangible objects. A concept that is best understood in contrast with their opposition to the existence of universal ideas and abstract concepts.

A measurable perspective of reality

I.e., from the point of view of nominalism, the reality is quantifiable. The universal refer to the classification of reality in different types of objects. Within these types, there is the paradox that there are differences but also similarities. From the point of view of realistic philosophy, things that are of the same type have similar characteristics according to the universal. The authors nominalist is questioning precisely where are those universal, i.e., where are located those concepts General that encompass the reality of it concrete.

Nominalism in the universe of Plato

For example, the Greek philosopher Plato explained that there is a sensible world and other intangible universe which contains ideas that are the perfect model of the copy of each material object that is in the world. From the point of view of nominalism then, this question arises: where that intangible universe containing ideas is located then?

The philosophical proposal of Ockham

Nominalism acquired one leading role even more during the middle ages thanks to the influence of Ockham. One of the fundamental theses of his philosophy is that there are only individuals. This poses a new reality in the ontology and the study of the analysis of the reality. From this point of view, the general concepts are universal entities that have a validadez itself, but they are generic concepts.
From this point of view, the place in which these general concepts is in the mind of the human being, which classifies the reality and it is known, however, those ideas are not in the reality itself.
The reality is known through information perceived by the intuitive knowledge. On the other hand, human beings can also perform general reasoning from the concrete.