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| Question | Answer |
| Nominalism | - ‘Nominalism’ is ambiguous. It’s linguistic root is ‘nominal’: pertaining to names. - This gets us the main idea: In some sense, universals exist in name only. The world is made up of particulars. |
| Nominalism: According to Hume | - “’tis a principle generally receiv’d in philosophy, that every thing in nature is individual.” - As we saw with Plato, Hume’s argument starts with epistemological considerations. Hume begins the Treatise by drawing two divisions among what he calls our “perceptions.” 1. Impressions and ideas. 2. Simple and complex perceptions. |
| Nominalism: Some features of Hume's perceptions | 1. Impressions and ideas differ only in degree. 2. As a general rule, we have no simple idea that does not correspond to a simple impression. 3. Simple impressions cause simple ideas. 4. Complex ideas can arise in part from the operation of the imagination. |
| Nominalism: Abstract Ideas | - Speaking strictly, using Hume’s technical sense of “idea,” we might say that his view is that there are no such things as abstract ideas. - Another way to put his point is that he reduces abstract ideas away: abstract ideas are ideas “particular in their nature, but general in their representation.” |
| Nominalism: Basic Argument | - Given our cognitive structure, we just cannot have the idea of eg white independently of a white something. - With practice we draw distinctions of reason: the globe of white marble, cube of white marble, globe of black marble eg. - But: “A person, who desires us to consider the figure of a globe of white marble without thinking on its colour, desires an impossibility.” |
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