Nominalism

Nominalism is a philosophical position that regards the world as consisting of single things and knowledge and concepts as knowledge about single objects. This view is a defining characteristic in empiricism and positivism and is opposed to forms of realism.

The pragmatic philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952) belongs to the group og main critics of nominalism:
"It was the way in which nominalism obscures the importance of the interactions between organic beings, more than the issue of whether the uses of words (regarded as instruments) reveal universal characters in things, which formed the basis of Dewey's criticism of nominalism. Nominalism invites us to consider the context in which humans use language in abstraction from all social interaction, to regard a linguistic act or its vehicle purely as a particular existence" (Tiles, 1990, p. 86).

General semantics is a theory about meaning which has been characterized as radical nominalism (Nordberg, 1977).

Literature:

Loux, M. J. (1998). Nominalism. IN: Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Version 1.0, London: Routledge.

Nordberg, R. B. (1977). General semantics as radical nominalism. ET CETERA, 1977, V34, N4, P396-404.

Tiles, J. E. (1988/1990). Dewey. London: Routledge. (Paperback 1990).

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.(2005). Nominalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominalism