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Wim Staat, "Ockham, Singularity and Multiculturalism: An Ockhamist Analysis of Singularity and its Politico-Legal Implications", International Journal for the Semiotics of Law /Revue Internationale de Sémiotique Juridique IX/26 (1996), 139-172: This paper discusses the difficulties inherent in the conceptualization of 'singularity'. The first problem is its negative definition: singularity is not particularity. Central to this paper, then, is the question: if the representation of singularity in term of particularity cannot be accepted, what else does singularity signify? The answer to this question is presented in three parts and a conclusion. In part one, the conceptualization of singularity is contextualized. The pertinence of singularity is discussed in the context of contemporary debates on the respect of individuals within larger groups. In section two, the contemporary critique of the representation of singularity is traced to the 14th century nominalism of William of Ockham. This section also discusses Ockham's personal involvement in the political debates of his time. The third section is reserved for an interpretation of the consistency in Ockham's work, considering that he did not explicitly write about singularity as a notion with politico-legal significance. The paper, then, leads to a semiotical understanding of the relation between Ockham's political and philosophical works. More specifically, it leads to a semiotics of singularity which accounts for the difficulties inherent in conceptualization as such. Singularity, then, 'means' abandoning the inquiry into what a concept is, in favor of an inquiry into what the concept signifies. Considering, finally, the contemporarily felt exigency to respect singularity in the political and legal sphere, the paper concludes that such exigency is indeed the consequence of Ockham's conceptual nominalism.

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