nominalism

In philosophy, the theory that objects of general terms (such as ‘red’ and ‘dog’) have nothing in common except the general term. Nominalists deny that the meaning of a general term is an independently accessible thing, concept, or

universal. Nominalists also deny that any particular thing has an independently real essence.

Consequently, nominalism makes our classifications arbitrary. The opposite of nominalism is realism, and the dispute between these two theories has continued since at least the 11th century. Leading nominalists include William of Occam, Thomas Hobbes, Nelson Goodman, and W V O Quine.