ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses classify numerous solutions and theories into a few main classes; then to inquire how each of these classes fared; which of them has been dominant in its influence, and during which period. That the problem of realism-nominalism has a direct bearing upon many a practical question is evidenced by the movements of such basic social problems. There are sociological universalism and singularism, society and the individual, collectivism and individualism, and still more by the fluctuation of the purely juridical conceptions of juridical personality, corporation, and the like. When one considers the respective theories, one can see at once that they present the problem mainly in two aspects: the ontological and the ethical. The ontological setting consists of an inquiry as to which of the two—the individual or society—is the true reality. All the theories in the field are classified into the following classes: sociological singularism; sociological universalism; sociological mystic unity of individuals.
