nominalism

noun

1. (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).

noun

1. the philosophical theory that the variety of objects to which a single general word, such as dog, applies have nothing in common but the nameCompare conceptualism, realism

n.1820, “view that treats abstract concepts as names only, not realities,” from French nominalisme (1752), from nominal, from Latin nominalis (see nominal). Related: Nominalist.