nominalism 
Scotus Erigena. (c) That of Peter Abelard (born 1079, died 
1142), which consisted in holding that universality resides 
only in judgments or predications. Yet he not only admits 
that general propositions may be true of real things by 
virtue of the similarities of the latter, but also holds to a 
Platonist doctrine of ideas. Various other kinds of nomi- 
nalism are allied to that of Abelard, especially the vague 
modern doctrine called coneeptualism (which see). (A) The 
terminism of the " Venerable Inceptor," William of Occam 
(lived in the fourteenth century), who held that nothing 
except individuals exists, whether in or out of the mind, 
but that concepts (whether existing substantively or only 
objectively in the mind he does not decide) are natural 
signs of many things, and in that sense are universal, (e) 
That of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury (born 1588, died 
1679), who added to the doctrine of Occam that there are 
no general concepts, but only images, so that the only 
universality lies in the association of ideas. This doc- 
trine, followed by Berkeley, Hume, James Mill, and others, 
is specifically known as nominalism in modern English 
philosophy, as contradistinguished from cnnceptualism. 
(/) That of modern science, which merely denies the va- 
lidity of the "substantial forms " of the schoolmen, or ab- 
stractions not based on any inductive inquiry ; but which, 
far from regarding the uniformities of nature as mere for- 
tuitous similarities between individual events, maintains 
that they extend beyond the region of observed facts. 
Properly speaking, this is not nominalism, (g) That of 
Kant, who maintained that all unity in thought depends 
upon the nature of the human mind, not belonging to the 
thing in itself. 
nominalist (nom'i-nal-ist), n. [= F. nomiiial- 
iste; as nominal + -i'st.~\ A believer in nomi- 
nalism. 
nominalistic (nom"i-na-lis'tik), a. [< nominal- 
ist + -ic.~] Of, pertaining to, or characteristic 
of nominalism or the nominalists. 
nominalize (nom'i-nal-Iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. 
nominalized, ppr. nominalizing. [< nominal + 
-ise.] To convert into a noun. Instructions for 
Orators (1682), p. 32. 
nominally (nom'i-nal-i), adv. In a nominal 
manner; by or as regards name; in name; 
only in name ; ostensibly. 
This, nominally no tax, in reality comprehends all taxes. 
Burke, Late State of the Nation. 
Nominally all powerful, he was really less free than a 
subject. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., 448. 
In another half -century Canada might if she chose stand 
as a nominally independent, as she is now a really inde- 
pendent, state. N. A. Rev., CXLII. 45. 
nominate (nom'i-nat), v. t.; pret. and pp. nomi- 
nated, ppr. nominating. [< L. nominatus, pp. 
of nominare (>It. nominare = Sp. nombrar = Pg. 
nomear=OF.nomer, nommer, F. nommer), name, 
call by name, give a name to, < nomen, a name: 
see nomen, and cf. name 1 , v.'] 1. To name; 
mention by name. 
Sight may distinguish of colours ; but suddenly to nomi- 
nate them all, it is impossible. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 130. 
I have not doubted to single forth more than once such 
of them as were thought the chiefe and most nominated 
opposers on the other side. 
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
2f. To call; entitle; denominate. 
I spoke it, tender Juvenal, as a congruent epitheton ap- 
pertaining to thy young days, which we may nominate 
tender. Shalt., L. L. L., i. 2. 16. 
Boldly nominate a spade a spade. 
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1. 
3. To name or designate by name for an office 
or place; appoint: as, to nominate an heir or 
an executor. 
It is not to be thought that he which as it were from 
heaven hath nominated and designed them unto holiness 
by special privilege of their very birth will himself de- 
prive them of regeneration and inward grace, only because 
necessity depriveth them of outward sacraments. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 60. 
The Earl of Leicester is nominated by his Majesty to go 
Ambassador Extraordinary to that King and other Princes 
of Germany. Howell, Letters, I. v. 40. 
4. To name for election, choice, or appoint- 
ment; propose by name, or offer the name of, 
as a candidate, especially for an elective office. 
See nomination. 5f. To set down in express 
terms; express. 
Is it so nominated in the bond ? 
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 259. 
In order unto that which I have nominated in this be- 
half and more principally intend, let us take notice. 
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 291. 
Nominating convention. See convention. 
nominate (nom'i-nat), a. [< L. nominatus, pp. 
of nominare, name: see the verb.] 1. Nomi- 
nated ; of an executor, appointed by the will. 
Executor in Scotch law is a more extensive term than 
in English. He is either nominate or dative, the latter 
appointed by the court, and corresponding in most respects 
to the English administrator. Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 573. 
2. Possessing a nomen juris or legal name or 
designation ; characterized or distinguished by 
a particular name Nominate right, in Scots law, a 
right that is known and recognized in law, or possesses a 
nomen juris, which serves to determine its legal character 
and consequences. Of this sort are those contracts termed 
loan, commodate, deposit, pledge, tale, etc. Nmninate riyhte 
4010 
are opposed to innominate rights, or those in which the 
obligation depends upon the terms of the express agree- 
ment of the parties. 
nqminately (nom'i-nat-li), adv. By name ; par- 
ticularly. Spelman. 
nomination (nom-i-na'shon), n. [= F. nomi- 
nation = Sp. nomination = Pg. nominactlo = It. 
nominazione, < L. nominatio(n-), a naming, < no- 
minare, pp. nominatus: see nominate.] 1. The 
act of nominating or naming; the act of pro- 
posing by name for an office ; specifically, the 
act or ceremony of bringing forward and sub- 
mitting the name of a candidate, especially 
for an elective office, according to certain pre- 
scribed forms. 
I have so far forborne making nominations to fill these 
vacancies, for reasons which I will now state. 
Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 170. 
2. The state of being nominated: as, he is in 
nomination for the post. 3. The power of nom- 
inating or appointing to office. 
The nomination of persons to places being so principal 
and inseparable a flower of his crown, he would reserve to 
himself. Clarendon, Great Rebellion. (Latham.) 
4. In Eng. eccles. law, the appointment or pre- 
sentation of a clergyman to a benefice by the 
patron. 5f. Denomination; name. 
And as these reioysings tend to diuers effects, so do they 
also carry diuerse formes and nominations. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 37. 
Divers characters are given to several persons, by which 
they are distinguished from all others of the same common 
nomination, as Jacob is called Israel, and Abraham the 
friend of God. Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, iii. 3 4. 
6t. Mention by name; express mention. 
I will look again on the intellect of the letter, for the 
nomination of the party writing to the person written 
unto. Shalt., L. L. L., iv. 2. 138. 
nominatival (nom"i-na-tl'val or nom'i-na-ti- 
val), a. [< nominative + -al.] Of or pertain- 
ing to the nominative case. 
nominative (nom'i-na-tiv), a. and n. [= F. 
nominatif= Sp. Pg. It. nominativo, < L. nomi- 
nativus, serving to name, of or belonging to 
naming; casus nominativus or simply nomina- 
tivus, the nominative case; < nominare, pp. 
nominatus, name : see nominate.'] I. a. Noting 
the subject : applied to that form of a noun or 
other word having case-inflection which is used 
when the word is the subject of a sentence, or 
to the word itself when it stands in that rela- 
tion: as, the nominative case of a Latin word; 
the nominative word in a sentence. 
II. n. In gram., the nominative case; also, a 
nominative word. Abbreviated nom. 
The nominative hath no other noat but the particle of 
determination ; as, the peple is a beast with manic heades ; 
a horse serves man to manie uses ; men in auctoritie sould 
be lanternes of light. 
A. Hume, Orthographic (E. E. T. S.), p. 29. 
Nominative absolute. See absolute, 11. 
nominatively (nom'i-na-tiv-li), adv. In the 
manner or form of a nominative; as a nomi- 
native. 
nominator (nom'i-na-tor), n. [= F. nominateur 
= Sp. nombrador, nominator = Pg. nomeador = 
It. nominatore, < L. nominator, one who names, 
< nontinare, name: see nominate.] One who 
nominates, in any sense of that word; espe- 
cially, one who has the power of nominating or 
appointing, as to a church living. 
The arrangement actually made in Ireland is that every 
layman who sits in our synods, or who, as a nominator, 
takes part in the election of incumbents, must be a com- 
municant. Contemporary Rev., XLIX. 308. 
nominee (uom-i-ne'), n. [< L. nominare, name, 
+ -eel.] i. One who is nominated, named, or 
designated, as to an office. 2. In Eng. common 
law, the person who is named to receive a copy- 
hold estate on surrender of it to the lord ; the 
cestui que use, sometimes called the surren- 
deree. 3. A person on whose life an annuity 
depends. 
nominor (nom'i-nor), n. [< L. nominare, name, 
+ -or. Cf. nominator.] In law, one who nom- 
inates. 
The terms of connection . . . between a nominor and 
a nominee. Bentham, Works (ed. 1843X X. 229. 
nomistic (no-mis'tik), a. [< Gr. v6ftof, a law 
(see Home*, nomicl), + -ist-ic.] Founded on or 
acknowledging a law or system of laws embod- 
ied in a sacred book: as, nomistic religions or 
communities. 
With regard to the ethical religions the question has 
been mooted and a rather puzzling question it is What 
right have we to divide them into nomistic or nomothetic 
communities, founded on a law or Holy Scripture, and 
universal or world religions, which start from principles 
and maxims, the latter being only three Buddhism, 
Christianity, and Mohammedanism V 
Encyc. Brit., XX. 368. 
nomophylax 
nommert, and v. An obsolete form of num- 
ber. 
nomocanon (no-mok'a-non), n. [< LGr. vo/m- 
KOVUV (MGr. also vo/ionavovov), < Gr. vo/iof, law, 
+ Kavav, rule, canon : see conow 1 .] In the East- 
ern Ch., a body of canon law with the addi- 
tion of imperial laws bearing upon ecclesias- 
tical matters. Such a digest was made from previous 
collections by Johannes Scholasticus, patriarch of Con- 
stantinople (564), and afterward by Photius, patriarch of 
the same see (883), whose collection consists chiefly of the 
canons recognized or passed by the Quinisext (692) and 
subsequent councils, and the ecclesiastical legislation of 
Justinian. The Quinisext council accepted eighty-five 
apostolic canons, the decrees of the first Mcene and other 
councils, and the decisions of a number of Eastern prelates 
of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. 
nomocracy (no-mok'ra-si), n. [< Gr. vo/j.of, law, 
+ Kparia, < uparelv, rule.] A system of govern- 
ment established and carried out in accordance 
with a code of laws: as, the nomocracy of the 
ancient Hebrew commonwealth. Milman. 
nomogenist (uo-moj'e-nist), . [< nomoge-n-y 
+ -ist.] One who upholds or believes in no- 
mogeny: opposed to thaumatogenist. Owen. 
To meet the inevitable question of " Whence the first 
organic matter ? " the Nomogenist is reduced to enumerate 
the existing elements into which the simplest living jelly 
or sarcode is resolvable. 
Owen, Comp. Anat. (1868), III. 817. 
nomogeny (no-moj'e-ni), ti. [< Gr. vo/iof, law, 
+ -yeveia, < -ycwfc, producing: see -geny.] The 
origination of life under the operation of exist- 
ing natural law, and not by miracle : opposed 
to thaumatogeny. The word was introduced by Owen 
in the quotation here given, as nearly synonymous with 
epigenesis. 
428. Nomogeny or Thaumatogeny ? The French 
Academy of Sciences was the field of discussion and de- 
bate from 1861 to 1864, between the "Evolutionists," hold- 
ing the doctrine of primary life by miracle, and the " Epi- 
genesists," who try to show that the phenomena are due 
to the operation of existing law. 
Owen, Comp. Anat. (1868), III. 814. 
nomographer (no-mog'ra-fer), n. [< nomog- 
rapn-y + -erl.] One who writes on or is versed 
in the subject of nomography. 
nomography (no-mog'ra-fi), n. [= F. nomo- 
graphie = Sp. nomografia, < Gr. vofto-ypat/iia, a 
writing of laws, written legislation, < vo/io-ypaipo;, 
one who writes or gives laws, < wfyiof, law, + 
-ypafyia, < yjMtytiv, write.] Exposition of the 
proper manner of drawing up laws ; that part 
of the art of legislation which has relation to 
the form given, or proper to be given, to the 
matter of a law. lientham, Nomography, or 
the Art of Inditing Laws. 
nomological (nom-o-loj'i-kal), a. [< nomolog-y 
+ -ic-al.] Or or pertaining to nomology, in any 
of its meanings. 
It would take too long in this place to analyze in nomo- 
logical terms this remarkably opaque utterance. 
Westminster Rev., CXXVI. 126. 
Nomological psychology, the nomology of mind ; the 
science of the laws by which the mental faculties are 
governed. 
nomologist (no-mol'o-jist), n. [< nomolog-y 
+ -ist.~] A specialist in nomology ; one who is 
versed in the science of law. 
Parental love is a fact which nomologiste must accept as 
a datum. Westminster Rev., CXXVI. 135. 
nomology (no-mol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. vofwg, law, 
+ -Aoyio, < /teywv, speak: see -ologtj.] 1. The 
science of law and legislation. 
Rather what may be termed nomology, or the inductive 
:nce of law. Westminster Rev., CXXVI. 143. 
scie] 
2. The science of the laws of the mind, espe- 
cially of the fundamental laws of thinking. 
It leaves to the proper Nomoloyy of the Presentative 
Faculties the Nomology of Perception, the Nomology of 
the Regulative and Intuitive Faculty to prescribe the 
conditions of a perfect cognition of the matter which it 
appertains to them to apprehend. 
B. A'. Day, Logic, p. 137. 
3. That part of botany which relates to the 
laws which govern the variations of organs. 
nomopelmous (nom-o-pel'mus), a. [<Gr. vo/toc, 
law, + Trtt./ia, sole.] In ornitli., having the nor- 
mal or usual arrangement of the flexor tendons 
of the foot, the tendon of the flexor hallucis be- 
ing entirely separate from that of the common 
flexor of the other toes. The arrangement is also 
called schizopelmous, and is contrasted with the sympel- 
mous, antiopelmous, and heteropelmous dispositions of these 
tendons. 
nomophylax (no-mof'i-laks), H. ; pi. nomoplty- 
Uices (iiom-o-phil'a-sez). [< Gr. vo/w$vha, a 
guardian of the laws, < v6fiof, law, T ^i'/laf, a 
guardian.] In Gr. antiq., a guardian of the laws ; 
specifically, one of a board of seven magistrates 
which, during the age of Pericles, sat in pres- 
ence of the popular assembly of Athens, and ad- 
journed the meeting if it apprehended that the 
