In medieval philosophy, the position that universal concepts and categories have real, independent existence beyond individual objects, opposing nominalism in the great scholastic debate about the nature of reality.
From Medieval Latin 'realis' meaning 'relating to things,' derived from 'res' (thing, reality). The philosophical term developed during scholastic debates about whether abstract concepts like 'beauty' or 'goodness' existed as real entities or were merely human mental constructions.
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