n.
In metaphysics , the doctrine opposed to monism .
Whereas monists such as Parmenides , Benedict de Spinoza , and G.W.F. Hegel maintain that reality consists of only one ultimate substance, pluralists assert that reality consists of manifold entities of many different types and that the diversity of things is more striking and important than their unity. In A Pluralistic Universe (1909), William James held that it is characteristic of empirically minded thinkers to note the changeability of things, the multiplicity of their being and their relations with one another, and the unfinished character of the world.