Anti-nominalism
In Ideas Have Consequences, Weaver analyzed William of Occam's 14th century notions of nominalist philosophy. In broad terms, nominalism is the idea that "universals are not real, only particulars" (Young 107). Nominalism deprives people of a measure of universal truth, so that each man becomes his own "priest and ethics professor" (Scotchie 5). Weaver deplored this relativism, and believed that modern men were "moral idiots, ... incapable of distinguishing between better and worse" (Nash 89).
Weaver viewed America's moral degradation and turn toward commodity-culture as the unwitting consequences of its belief in nominalism. That is, a civilization that no longer believed in universal transcendental values had no moral ambition to understand a higher truth outside of man (Nash 89). The result was a "shattered world" (Young 113), in which truth was unattainable, and freedom only an illusion. Moreover, without a focus on the sort of higher truth that can be found in organized religions, people turned to the more tangible idols of science and materialism.
Weaver's ideal society was that of the European Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholic Church gave to all an accurate picture of reality and truth (Nash 94). Nominalism emerged in the late Middle Ages, but had few adherents before the 17th century. More generally, Weaver felt that the shift from universal truth and transcendental order to individual opinion and industrialism adversely affected the moral health of Americans.
Nominalism also undermines the concept of hierarchy, which depends entirely on fundamental truths about people. Weaver, in contrast, believed that hierarchies are necessary. He argued that social, gender, and age-related equality actually undermine stability and order. Believing in "natural social groupings" (Young 112), he claimed that it should be possible to sort people into suitable categories without the envy of equality. Using the hierarchical structure of a family as an example, he pointed out that family members accept various duties grounded in "sentiment" and "fraternity," not equality and rights (Young 113). Continuing in this direction, he claimed not to understand the feminist movement, which led women to abandon their stronger connection to nature and intuition for a superficial political and economic equality with men (Young 123).
Weaver maintained that egalitarianism only promoted "uspicion, hostility, and lack of trust and loyalty" (Toledano 270). Instead, he believed that there must be a center, a transcendent truth on which people could focus and structure their lives. Contrary to what nominalism would suggest, language can be pinned down, can serve as a foundation through which one can "find real meaning" (Young 122). In Weaver's words, "a world without generalization would be a world without knowledge" (Young 114). Thus universals allow true knowledge.
Read more about this topic: Richard M. Weaver