Annotated Bibliography

Adler, Mortimer J. Ten Philosophical Mistakes. New York: Touchstone Books, 1985. Adler presents a Thomistic realist critique of modern philosophy discussing how nominalism is a key source of error in some of the most important areas of philosophy.

Kreeft, Peter. Socratic Logic: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press, 2004. Kreeft presents both an excellent discussion of the Aristotelian view of the reasoning process as well as an insightful discussion.

Gilson, Etiene. The Unity of Philosophical Experience. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999 reprint of the 1937 original. Gilson shows there is a basic tendency in humans to seek truth in the experience of reality, that he is a “metaphysical animal”. He particularly provides insights into the error of nominalism in late medieval and modern philosophy describing with precision and clarity the effect of nominalistic thinking in key philosophers in both periods and the effects on thier thought and those who follow.

Gallagher, Kenneth T. The Philosophy of Knowledge. New York: Fordham University Press, 1982. Gallagher insightfully presents a contemporary Thomistic discussion of epistemology in this book widely adopted as a text for epistemology courses. His refutation of nominalism is very clear and convincing and is presented within a powerful account of Thomistic epistemology further strengthened by personalistic and relational insights into the nature of man and being itself which is not possible in with a nominalist metaphysics.

Koterski, Joseph. Natural Law and Human Nature. Chantilly: Virginia, 2002. Koterski presents both a philosophical and historical consideration of a moral natural law from a Thomistic perspective. His discussion in this course guidebook and video course of the definition and effects of nominalism show that nominalism is in opposition to a moral natural law and would make it impossible to believe in a natural law if nominalistic beliefs are accepted.

Copleston, Frederick. A History of Philosophy. New York: Doubleday, 1993. Copleston’s history of philosophy is a classic reference that covers in detail the development of philosophical thought with detail exposition of philosopher’s ideas in the context of the period with attention to influences from predecessors and those who follow.

King, Peter. “The Failure of Ockham’s Nominalism”. Pittsburgh: paper delivered at APA Central Divsion Meetings, 1997. A thorough analysis of Ockham’s nominalism focusing on Ockham’s attempt to explain how his semantic method of signification explains the relations among similar things without the existence of essences.