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How did Peter Abelard explain the relationship between universal concepts and individual things?

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Peter Abelard Peter Abelard, with Héloïse, miniature portrait by Jean de Meun, 14th century; in the Musee Conde, Chantilly, France.

Peter Abelard’s approach to the problem of universals occupied a middle ground between the nominalism of his teacher Roscelin and the realism of William of Champeaux.12

Abelard maintained that only individual things are truly real. He rejected the nominalist view that universals are merely empty names (flatus vocis), arguing that this failed to account for the fact that such names possess genuine meaning. Conversely, he disagreed with the realists, who believed that universals were independent essences shared by individuals.12

Instead, Abelard proposed that universals are names or mental concepts that derive their meaning from their reference to individuals. Rather than signifying a common essence, these concepts signify the "status" or common condition of individuals—such as being a member of a specific species—which arises because God created those individuals according to the same divine idea.12