nominalisme
nominalisme
French
“The medieval debate about nominalism shut down the University of Paris in 1340. The question — whether 'redness' exists independently of red things — was considered dangerous enough to ban.”
Nominalisme comes from Latin nominalis (of or pertaining to names), from nomen (name). The philosophical debate it names goes back to at least the eleventh century. The question: do universals (redness, humanity, justice) exist independently of particular things, or are they just names (nomina) we attach to collections of similar particulars? Roscelin of Compiegne, around 1090, argued that universals are mere names — flatus vocis (puffs of voice). This was nominalism.
The opposing position — realism — held that universals exist independently. Plato's Forms are the extreme version. A moderate realist like Thomas Aquinas argued that universals exist in the mind of God and are instantiated in particular things. William of Ockham, writing in the 1320s, revived nominalism with rigorous logic. His razor — entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity — cut away the independent existence of universals. If you can explain redness by pointing to red things, you do not need a separate entity called Redness.
The University of Paris banned the teaching of Ockham's nominalism in 1340. King Louis XI banned it again in 1473. The debate was not merely academic — if universals are just names, then the universal Church, the universal human nature redeemed by Christ, and the universal moral law are also just names. Nominalism threatened the metaphysical foundations of medieval theology.
Modern philosophy is broadly nominalist without calling itself that. Most analytic philosophers do not believe that abstract objects like 'justice' or 'redness' exist independently of minds and language. The question has migrated from theology to philosophy of language and mathematics. Do numbers exist? Are mathematical objects real or just useful fictions? The medieval question in modern clothing.
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Today
Nominalism is the philosophical position hiding inside common sense. Most people, if pressed, would say that 'justice' is a word we use for certain kinds of behavior, not a thing floating in a Platonic heaven. Most people are nominalists without knowing it. The medieval debate sounds absurd until you realize it is the same question as: do human rights exist, or are they just words we use?
The nominalist says names are all we have. The realist says something stands behind the names. The argument is seven centuries old and nowhere near finished.
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