nominalism

Etymology

From French nominalisme. By surface analysis, nominal + -ism.

noun

  1. (philosophy) A doctrine that universals do not have an existence except as names for classes of concrete objects.
    Blumenberg's thesis, which has since been reiterated by a number of philosophers and historians, is that nominalism, as it became widespread in Protestant theology, led to the Enlightenment, disenchantment, and the scientific revolution. 2021, Meghan O'Gieblyn, chapter 11, in God, Human, Animal, Machine[…]

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/nominalism), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.