Phyllis, Nominalism is a position regarding the reality or indispensability of generals or universals. Starting from the economic principle that we should not multiply entities beyond necessity, nominal thinkers claim that generals or universals are dispensable in favor of individuals. Thus, some of their mottoes are "Do not confuse a general term with a general" or "Do not infer the existence of a general entity from the existence of a general term", meaning that just because we use general terms it does not mean that we have any need of general entities as their singular denotations.
Jon
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