Page "Nominalism" Paragraph 2

Nominalism is primarily a position on the problem of universals, which dates back at least to Plato, and is opposed to realism — the view that universals do exist over and above particulars.

However, the name " nominalism " emerged out of debates in medieval philosophy with Roscellinus.

As John Stuart Mill once wrote, the early versions of nominalism were that " there is nothing general except names ", hence the prefix " nomin -".

This, however, is a more dated use of the term that is now considered to be a specific version of what is now called " nominalism ".