The word for today is…

conceptualism (noun) – 1. Philosophy The doctrine, intermediate between nominalism and realism, that universals exist only within the mind and have no external or substantial reality. Also called mentalism.
2. A school of abstract art or an artistic doctrine that is concerned with the intellectual engagement of the viewer through conveyance of an idea and negation of the importance of the art object itself.

Source : The Free Dictionary

Etymology : 1837, “doctrine that the meaning of a class-name can be fully represented in thought or actually present in consciousness” (opposed to, or a compromise between, realism and nominalism), from conceptual + -ism.

Peter is a fourth-generation New Zealander, with his mother's and father's folks having arrived in New Zealand in the 1870s. He lives in Lower Hutt with his wife, some cats and assorted computers. His...