Universals

Realism (0) — Nominalism (100) · one of the 20 worldview axes

The six statements

Each axis is measured by six statements answered on a five-point scale. Statements 1, 2 and 5 pull toward Realism; 3, 4 and 6 toward Nominalism.

  1. Words like "redness" and "justice" are just labels we put on groups of things; they don't name anything real in the world.
  2. If every mind disappeared, abstract things like numbers and logical laws would disappear too.
  3. Abstract things like numbers, logical laws, and shared properties exist independently of any mind.
  4. Mathematicians discover truths about numbers; they do not make them up.
  5. When a biologist puts organisms into "species," she is drawing a useful line for science: not uncovering a category that was already there.
  6. "Justice is a virtue" and "two plus two equals four" are plainly true; so the things they refer to must really exist, independent of us.

Toward Realism (73)

Between the poles (5)

Toward Nominalism (39)

283 thinkers have no sourced position on this axis and are omitted rather than guessed.

Find your own positionAll 20 axes