Eric, List: Welcome! A couple of issues come to mind.
- Is there anything real that cannot, in principle, be known by humans? The nominalist says yes, the realist says no. - Are there real laws of nature that govern existing things and events? The nominalist says no, the realist says yes. In both cases, the nominalist blocks the way of inquiry by insisting that some aspects of experience are brute and inexplicable. Regards, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA Professional Engineer, Amateur Philosopher, Lutheran Layman www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt - twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt On Fri, Jan 27, 2017 at 5:19 PM, Eric Charles < eric.phillip.char...@gmail.com> wrote: > Oh hey, my first post to the list.... > > I must admit that I find much of the recent discussion baffling. In part, > this is because I have never had anyone explain the Nominalism-Realism > distinction in a way that made sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I think I > understand the argument in the ancient context. However, one of the biggest > appeals of American Philosophy, for me, is its ability to eliminate (or > disarm) longstanding philosophical problems. > > With that in mind, I have never been able to make sense of the > nominalist-realist debate in the context of Peirce (or James, etc.). The > best I can do is to wonder: If I am, in a general sense, a realist, in that > I think people respond to things (without any *a priori* dualistic > privileging of mental things vs. physical things), what difference does it > make if I think collections-of-responded-to-things are "real" as a > collection, or just a collection of "reals"? > > I know it might be a big ask, but could someone give an attempt at > explaining it to me? Either the old fashioned way, by explaining what issue > is at argument here.... or, if someone is feeling *even more* > adventurous, by explaining what practical difference it makes in my action > which side of this debate I am on (i.e., what habit will I have formed if I > firmly believe one way or the other?). > > Best, > Eric > > ----------- > Eric P. Charles, Ph.D. > Supervisory Survey Statistician > U.S. Marine Corps >
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