the philosophical theory that the application of general words to a variety of objects reflects the existence of some mental entity through which the application is mediated and which constitutes the meaning of the term
Compare nominalism, realism, Platonism
2.
the philosophical view that there is no reality independent of our conception of it, or (as in the philosophy of Kant) that the intellect is not a merely passive recipient of experience but rather imposes a structure on it
Derived forms
conceptualist (conˈceptualist)
noun
conceptualistic (conˌceptualˈistic)
adjective
conceptualism in American English
(kənˈsɛptʃuəlˌɪzəm)
noun
the doctrine, intermediate between nominalism and realism, that universals exist explicitly in the mind as concepts, and implicitly in things as shared qualities