That he and Abelard disagreed was only natural, but
Abelard's statement that he argued William into abandoning the
basic principles of his philosophy is certainly untrue.
"THE UNIVERSALS"
It is not within the province of such a note as this to discuss in
detail the great controversy between the realists and the
nominalists which dominated the philosophical and, to some extent,
the religious thought of France during the first half of the
twelfth century. In brief, the realists maintained that the idea is
a reality distinct from and independent of the individuals
constituting it; their motto, _Universalia sunt realia_, was
readily capable of extension far beyond the Church, and William of
Champeaux himself carried it to the extent of arguing that nothing
is real but the universal. The nominalists, on the other hand,
argued that "universals" are mere notions of the mind, and that
individuals alone are real; their motto was _Universalia sunt
nomina_. Thus the central question in the long controversy
concerned the reality of abstract or incorporate ideas, and it is
to be observed that the realists held views diametrically opposite
to those which the word "realism" today implies.
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