[nom-uh-nl-iz-uh
m] 
| (in medieval philosophy) the doctrine that general or abstract words do not stand for objectively existing entities and that universals are no more than names assigned to them. Compare conceptualism, realism (def. 5a). |
| nom·i·nal·ism (nŏm'ə-nə-lĭz'əm) n. Philosophy The doctrine holding that abstract concepts, general terms, or universals have no independent existence but exist only as names. nom'i·nal·ist n., nom'i·nal·is'tic adj. |
Nominalism
The principle of keeping the amount of a debt obligation fixed despite fluctuations in the money's purchasing power or exchange rate.
Investopedia Commentary
Nominalism puts the risk of depreciation on the creditor and the risk of appreciation on the debtor.
See also: Nominal Value
nominalism
in philosophy, position taken in the dispute over universals-words that can be applied to individual things having something in common-that flourished especially in late medieval times. Nominalism denied the real being of universals on the ground that the use of a general word (e.g., "humanity") does not imply the existence of a general thing named by it. The nominalist position did not necessarily deny, however, that there must be some similarity between the particular things to which the general word is applied. Thoroughgoing nominalists would withhold this concession, as Roscelin, a medieval nominalist, is said to have done. But unless such similarity is granted, the application of general words to particulars is made to appear entirely arbitrary. Such stricter forms of nominalism as existed in the Middle Ages can perhaps be viewed as reactions against Platonic realism, on which some enthusiasts, such as Guillaume de Champeaux, based the opinion that universals had real being. The realist position invited a defensive alliance between empiricism and nominalism; the most notable medieval example of such a synthesis was the work of William of Ockham.
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