53. Pure Nominalism was the swing of the pendulum of thought to the
very opposite extreme; while Conceptualism was an attempt to hit the
happy mean between the two.

54. Roughly it may be said that the Realists sought for the answer
to the question 'What is a Universal?' in the matter of thought, the
Conceptualists in the form, and the Nominalists in the expression.

55. A full answer to the question 'What is a Universal?' will bring
in something of the three views above given, while avoiding the
exaggeration of each. A Universal is a number of things that are
called by the same name; but they would not be called by the same name
unless they fell under the same conception in the mind; nor would they
fall under the same conception in the mind unless there actually
existed similar attributes in the several members of a class, causing
us to regard them under the same conception and to give them the same
name. Universals therefore do exist in nature, and not merely in the
mind of man: but their existence is dependent upon individual objects,
instead of individual objects depending for their existence upon
them. Aristotle saw this very clearly, and marked the distinction
between the objects corresponding to the singular and to the common
term by calling the former Primary and the latter Secondary
Existences. Rosinante and Excalibur are primary, but 'horse' and
'sword' secondary existences.

56. We have seen that the three products of thought are each one
stage in advance of the other, the inference being built upon the
proposition, as the proposition is built upon the term. Logic
therefore naturally divides itself into three parts.