How did William of Ockham explain the similarities among individual things?

William of Ockham, a prominent figure in medieval nominalism, rejected the existence of universal entities or shared essences within individual things. He maintained that reality consists solely of particular, individual objects, which possess nothing in common in a literal or metaphysical sense.123

To explain how we can perceive and discuss these objects in general terms, Ockham argued that individual things share objective relations of resemblance. While these things are not identical, they are more or less like one another. Ockham posited that this similarity is sufficient to allow human beings to form universal concepts—which serve as natural signs—to represent and talk about many distinct particulars. By appealing to these mental entities, he avoided the need to posit the existence of abstract universals, consistent with his principle of economy, Occam’s razor, which dictates that plurality should not be posited without necessity.2314