Nominalism (Noun)
Meaning
(philosophy) the doctrine that the various objects labeled by the same term have nothing in common but their name.
Classification
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents.
Examples
- The philosopher's argument relied heavily on nominalism, suggesting that the concept of "justice" was merely a label with no inherent meaning.
- Nominalism was a central tenet of the medieval philosopher's worldview, leading him to reject the idea of universal essences.
- In the context of nominalism, the term "human" is merely a convenient shorthand for a collection of disparate individuals with no shared essence.
- The nominalist perspective on language emphasizes the arbitrary nature of words and their relationship to reality.
- Critics of nominalism argue that it leads to a form of linguistic relativism, where words are stripped of any objective meaning.