Unlike populists, pluralists do not believe that such a thing as a "general will" exists. Some of the medieval and later vicars seem to have been pluralists (spread across parishes). The strongest criticisms have come from pluralists. In England, such pluralists as Cole, Figgis, Laski, Barker, and Maitland. Nevertheless, the subject remains controversial, and continues to be denied by pluralists. Some law pluralists further believe there are simply no laws of physics. Pluralists likewise reject historicism and utopian thinking. The pluralists were the first to try and reconcile Heraclitus and Parmenides. To determine this, pluralists study specific outcomes. Pluralists believe that social heterogeneity prevents any single group from gaining dominance. Pluralists also stress the differences between potential and actual power as it stands.