William of Ockam
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William of Ockham, OFM (; also Occam, from la, Gulielmus Occamus; 1287 – 10 April 1347) was an English
Franciscan friar , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
, scholastic philosopher,
apologist Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
, and
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
theologian, who is believed to have been born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey. He is considered to be one of the major figures of
medieval thought Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...
and was at the centre of the major intellectual and political controversies of the 14th century. He is commonly known for Occam's razor, the methodological principle that bears his name, and also produced significant works on
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premise ...
,
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
and
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. William is remembered in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
with a
commemoration Commemoration may refer to: *Commemoration (Anglicanism), a religious observance in Churches of the Anglican Communion *Commemoration (liturgy) In the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church, a commemoration is the recital, within the Li ...
on 10 April.


Life

William of Ockham was born in
Ockham, Surrey Ockham is a rural and semi-rural village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England. The village starts immediately east of the A3 but the lands extend to the River Wey in the west where it has a large mill-house. Ockham is between Cobha ...
in 1287. He received his elementary education in the London House of the Greyfriars. It is believed that he then studied theology at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
Spade, Paul Vincent (ed.). ''The Cambridge Companion to Ockham''. Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 20.He has long been claimed as a Merton alumnus, but there is no contemporary evidence to support this claim and as a Franciscan, he would have been ineligible for fellowships at Merton (see G. H. Martin and J. R. L. Highfield, ''A History of Merton College'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 53). The claim that he was a pupil of
Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...
at Oxford is also disputed (see Philip Hughes, ''History of the Church: Volume 3: The Revolt Against The Church: Aquinas To Luther'', Sheed and Ward, 1979, p. 119 n. 2).
from 1309 to 1321, but while he completed all the requirements for a master's degree in theology, he was never made a
regent master Regent master (''Magister regens'') was a title conferred in the medieval universities upon a student who had acquired a master's degree. The degree meant simply the right to teach, the ''Licentia docendi'', a right which could be granted, in the ...
. Because of this he acquired the honorific title , or "Venerable Beginner" (an was a student formally admitted to the ranks of teachers by the university authorities). During the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, theologian
Peter Lombard Peter Lombard (also Peter the Lombard, Pierre Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; 1096, Novara – 21/22 July 1160, Paris), was a scholastic theologian, Bishop of Paris, and author of '' Four Books of Sentences'' which became the standard textbook of ...
's ''
Sentences ''The Four Books of Sentences'' (''Libri Quattuor Sententiarum'') is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the 12th century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the '' sententiae'' ...
'' (1150) had become a standard work of theology, and many ambitious theological scholars wrote commentaries on it.Olson, Roger E. (1999). ''The Story of Christian Theology'', p. 350. William of Ockham was among these scholarly commentators. However, William's commentary was not well received by his colleagues, or by the Church authorities. In 1324, his commentary was condemned as unorthodox by a synod of bishops, and he was ordered to Avignon, France, to defend himself before a papal court. An alternative understanding, recently proposed by George Knysh, suggests that he was initially appointed in Avignon as a professor of philosophy in the Franciscan school, and that his disciplinary difficulties did not begin until 1327. It is generally believed that these charges were levied by Oxford chancellor
John Lutterell John Lutterell (died 1335) was an English medieval philosopher, theologian, and university chancellor. Lutterell was a Dominican and a Canon of Salisbury Cathedral. He was Chancellor of Oxford University from 1317 to 1322. However, he was so di ...
. The
Franciscan Minister General Minister General is the term used for the leader or Superior General of the different branches of the Order of Friars Minor. It is a term exclusive to them, and comes directly from its founder, St. Francis of Assisi. He chose this word over "Super ...
,
Michael of Cesena Michael of Cesena (''Michele di Cesena'' or ''Michele Fuschi'') ( 1270 – 29 November 1342) was an Italian Franciscan, Minister General of that order, and theologian. His advocacy of evangelical poverty brought him into conflict with Pope ...
, had been summoned to Avignon, to answer charges of heresy. A theological commission had been asked to review his ''Commentary on the Sentences'', and it was during this that William of Ockham found himself involved in a different debate. Michael of Cesena had asked William to review arguments surrounding
Apostolic poverty Apostolic poverty is a Christian doctrine professed in the thirteenth century by the newly formed religious orders, known as the mendicant orders, in direct response to calls for reform in the Roman Catholic Church. In this, these orders attempted ...
. The Franciscans believed that
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
and his apostles owned no property either individually or in common, and the
Rule of Saint Francis Francis of Assisi founded three orders and gave each of them a special rule. Here, only the rule of the first order is discussed, i.e., that of the Order of Friars Minor. Origin and contents of the rule Origin Whether St. Francis wrote several r ...
commanded members of the order to follow this practice. This brought them into conflict with Pope John XXII. Because of the pope's attack on the Rule of Saint Francis, William of Ockham,
Michael of Cesena Michael of Cesena (''Michele di Cesena'' or ''Michele Fuschi'') ( 1270 – 29 November 1342) was an Italian Franciscan, Minister General of that order, and theologian. His advocacy of evangelical poverty brought him into conflict with Pope ...
and other leading Franciscans fled Avignon on 26 May 1328, and eventually took refuge in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria, who was also engaged in dispute with the papacy, and became William's patron. After studying the works of John XXII and previous papal statements, William agreed with the Minister General. In return for protection and patronage William wrote treatises that argued for Emperor Louis to have supreme control over church and state in the Holy Roman Empire. "On June 6, 1328, William was officially excommunicated for leaving Avignon without permission," and William argued that John XXII was a heretic for attacking the doctrine of Apostolic poverty and the Rule of Saint Francis, which had been endorsed by previous popes. William of Ockham's philosophy was never officially condemned as heretical. He spent much of the remainder of his life writing about political issues, including the relative authority and rights of the spiritual and temporal powers. After
Michael of Cesena Michael of Cesena (''Michele di Cesena'' or ''Michele Fuschi'') ( 1270 – 29 November 1342) was an Italian Franciscan, Minister General of that order, and theologian. His advocacy of evangelical poverty brought him into conflict with Pope ...
's death in 1342, William became the leader of the small band of Franciscan dissidents living in exile with Louis IV. William of Ockham died (prior to the outbreak of the plague) on 9 April 1347.


Philosophical thought

In scholasticism, William of Ockham advocated reform in both method and content, the aim of which was simplification. William incorporated much of the work of some previous theologians, especially
Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...
. From Duns Scotus, William of Ockham derived his view of divine omnipotence, his view of grace and justification, much of his epistemology and ethical convictions. However, he also reacted to and against Scotus in the areas of predestination, penance, his understanding of universals, his formal distinction (that is, "as applied to created things"), and his view of parsimony which became known as Occam's razor.


Faith and reason

William of Ockham espoused
fideism Fideism () is an epistemological theory which maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths (see natural theology). The word ''fideism'' c ...
, stating that "only faith gives us access to theological truths. The ways of God are not open to reason, for God has freely chosen to create a world and establish a way of salvation within it apart from any necessary laws that human logic or rationality can uncover." He believed that science was a matter of discovery and saw God as the only ontological necessity. His importance is as a theologian with a strongly developed interest in logical method, and whose approach was critical rather than system building.''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', 6th Edition. Edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 735.


Nominalism

William of Ockham was a pioneer of
nominalism In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are at least two main versions of nominalism. One version denies the existence of universalsthings ...
, and some consider him the father of modern
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epis ...
, because of his strongly argued position that only individuals exist, rather than supra-individual
universals In metaphysics, a universal is what particular things have in common, namely characteristics or qualities. In other words, universals are repeatable or recurrent entities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things. For exa ...
, essences, or forms, and that universals are the products of abstraction from individuals by the human mind and have no extra-mental existence. He denied the real existence of metaphysical universals and advocated the reduction of
ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exi ...
. William of Ockham is sometimes considered an advocate of
conceptualism In metaphysics, conceptualism is a theory that explains universality of particulars as conceptualized frameworks situated within the thinking mind. Intermediate between nominalism and realism, the conceptualist view approaches the metaphysical co ...
rather than nominalism, for whereas nominalists held that universals were merely names, i.e. words rather than extant realities, conceptualists held that they were mental
concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by ...
s, i.e. the names were names of concepts, which do exist, although only in the mind. Therefore, the universal concept has for its object, not a reality existing in the world outside us, but an internal representation which is a product of the understanding itself and which "supposes" in the mind the things to which the mind attributes it; that is, it holds, for the time being, the place of the things which it represents. It is the term of the reflective act of the mind. Hence the universal is not a mere word, as Roscelin taught, nor a ''sermo'', as Peter Abelard held, namely the word as used in the sentence, but the mental substitute for real things, and the term of the reflective process. For this reason William has sometimes also been called a "terminist", to distinguish him from a nominalist or a conceptualist. Others want to distinguish Ockham as a " Terminist" to distinguish him from both Nominalism and Conceptualism. William of Ockham was a theological voluntarist who believed that if God had wanted to, he could have become incarnate as a donkey or an ox, or even as both a donkey and a man at the same time. He was criticized for this belief by his fellow theologians and philosophers.


Efficient reasoning

One important contribution that he made to modern science and modern intellectual culture was efficient reasoning with the principle of parsimony in explanation and theory building that came to be known as Occam's razor. This maxim, as interpreted by
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
, states that if one can explain a phenomenon without assuming this or that hypothetical entity, there is no ground for assuming it, i.e. that one should always opt for an explanation in terms of the fewest possible causes, factors, or variables. He turned this into a concern for ontological parsimony; the principle says that one should not multiply entities beyond necessity——although this well-known formulation of the principle is not to be found in any of William's extant writings. He formulates it as: "For nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident (literally, known through itself) or known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture." For William of Ockham, the only truly necessary entity is God; everything else is contingent. He thus does not accept the
principle of sufficient reason The principle of sufficient reason states that everything must have a reason or a cause. The principle was articulated and made prominent by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, with many antecedents, and was further used and developed by Arthur Schopenhau ...
, rejects the distinction between essence and existence, and opposes the Thomistic doctrine of active and passive intellect. His scepticism to which his ontological parsimony request leads appears in his doctrine that human reason can prove neither the immortality of the soul; nor the existence, unity, and infinity of God. These truths, he teaches, are known to us by revelation alone.


Natural philosophy

William wrote a great deal on
natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancient wo ...
, including a long commentary on Aristotle's ''Physics''. According to the principle of ontological parsimony, he holds that we do not need to allow entities in all ten of Aristotle's categories; we thus do not need the category of quantity, as the mathematical entities are not "real". Mathematics must be applied to other categories, such as the categories of substance or qualities, thus anticipating modern scientific renaissance while violating Aristotelian prohibition of ''metabasis''.


Theory of knowledge

In the theory of knowledge, William rejected the scholastic theory of species, as unnecessary and not supported by experience, in favour of a theory of abstraction. This was an important development in late medieval
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epis ...
. He also distinguished between intuitive and abstract cognition; intuitive cognition depends on the existence or non-existence of the object, whereas abstractive cognition "abstracts" the object from the existence predicate. Interpreters are, as yet, undecided about the roles of these two types of cognitive activities.


Political theory

William of Ockham is also increasingly being recognized as an important contributor to the development of Western constitutional ideas, especially those of government with limited responsibility."William of Ockham"
''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.
He was one of the first medieval authors to advocate a form of church/state separation, and was important for the early development of the notion of property rights. His political ideas are regarded as "natural" or "secular", holding for a secular absolutism. The views on monarchical accountability espoused in his ''Dialogus'' (written between 1332 and 1347) greatly influenced the
Conciliar movement Conciliarism was a reform movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response to ...
and assisted in the emergence of liberal democratic ideologies. William argued for complete separation of spiritual rule and earthly rule. He thought that the pope and churchmen have no right or grounds at all for secular rule like having property, citing 2 Timothy 2:4. That belongs solely to earthly rulers, who may also accuse the pope of crimes, if need be.Virpi Mäkinen, ''Keskiajan aatehistoria'', Atena Kustannus Oy, Jyväskylä, 2003, , . Pages 160, 167–168, 202, 204, 207–209. After the
Fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...
God had given men, including non-Christians, two powers: private ownership and the right to set their rulers, who should serve the interest of the people, not some special interests. Thus he preceded
Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...
in formulating social contract theory along with earlier scholars. William of Ockham said that the Franciscans avoided both private and common ownership by using commodities, including food and clothes, without any rights, with mere , the ownership still belonging to the donor of the item or to the pope. Their opponents such as Pope John XXII wrote that use without any ownership cannot be justified: "It is impossible that an external deed could be just if the person has no right to do it." Thus the disputes on the heresy of Franciscans led William of Ockham and others to formulate some fundamentals of economic theory and the theory of ownership.


Logic

In
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premise ...
, William of Ockham wrote down in words the formulae that would later be called
De Morgan's laws In propositional logic and Boolean algebra, De Morgan's laws, also known as De Morgan's theorem, are a pair of transformation rules that are both valid rules of inference. They are named after Augustus De Morgan, a 19th-century British math ...
, and he pondered
ternary logic In logic, a three-valued logic (also trinary logic, trivalent, ternary, or trilean, sometimes abbreviated 3VL) is any of several many-valued logic systems in which there are three truth values indicating ''true'', ''false'' and some indeterminat ...
, that is, a
logical system A formal system is an abstract structure used for inferring theorems from axioms according to a set of rules. These rules, which are used for carrying out the inference of theorems from axioms, are the logical calculus of the formal system. A form ...
with three truth values; a concept that would be taken up again in the
mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...
of the 19th and 20th centuries. His contributions to
semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comp ...
, especially to the maturing theory of supposition, are still studied by logicians. William of Ockham was probably the first logician to treat empty terms in Aristotelian syllogistic effectively; he devised an empty term semantics that exactly fit the syllogistic. Specifically, an argument is valid according to William's semantics if and only if it is valid according to ''Prior Analytics''.


Theological thought


Church authority

William of Ockham denied
papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...
and often went into conflict with the pope. However despite his conflicts with the papacy he did not renounce the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. Ockham also held that councils of the Church were fallible, he held that any individual could err on matters of faith, and councils being composed of multiple fallible individuals could err. He thus foreshadowed some elements of Luther's view of
sola scriptura , meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of aut ...
.


Church and State

Ockham taught the
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
, believing that the pope and emperor should be separate.


Apostolic poverty

Ockham advocated for voluntary poverty.


Soul

Ockham proposed that the souls of the Christians did not instantly get to enjoy the vision of God but would only when they have been rejoined with the body at the last judgement.


Literary Ockhamism/nominalism

William of Ockham and his works have been discussed as a possible influence on several late medieval literary figures and works, especially Geoffrey Chaucer, but also
Jean Molinet Jean Molinet (1435 – 23 August 1507) was a French poet, chronicler, and composer. He is best remembered for his prose translation of ''Roman de la rose''. Born in Desvres, which is now part of France, he studied in Paris. He entered the s ...
, the ''Gawain'' poet, François Rabelais, John Skelton, Julian of Norwich, the York and Townely Plays, and Renaissance romances. Only in very few of these cases is it possible to demonstrate direct links to William of Ockham or his texts. Correspondences between Ockhamist and Nominalist philosophy/theology and literary texts from medieval to postmodern times have been discussed within the scholarly paradigm of literary nominalism. Erasmus, in his ''Praise of Folly'', criticized him together with Duns Scotus as fuelling unnecessary controversies inside the Church.


Works

The standard edition of the philosophical and theological works is: ''William of Ockham: '', Gedeon Gál, et al., eds. 17 vols. St. Bonaventure, New York: The Franciscan Institute, 1967–1988. The seventh volume of the contains the doubtful and spurious works. The political works, all but the , have been edited in
H. S. Offler Hilary Seton Offler, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (3 February 1913 – 24 January 1991) was an English historian and editor. The Professor of Medieval History at Durham University from 1956 to 1978, he was an expert on medieval German histor ...
, et al., eds. , 4 vols., 1940–1997, Manchester: Manchester University Press ols. 1–3 Oxford: Oxford University Press
ol. 4 OL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band * Old Lace (comics) a telepathically linked dinosaur hero Businesses and organizations * OLT Express Germany (IATA code: OL), a scheduled and charter airl ...
Abbreviations: OT = vol. 1–10; OP = vol. 1–7.


Philosophical writings

* ('' Sum of Logic'') (c. 1323, OP 1). * , 1321–1324, OP 2). * , 1321–1324, OP 2). * , 1321–1324, OP 2). * , 1321–1324, OP 2). * (''Treatise on Predestination and God's Foreknowledge with respect to Future Contingents'', 1322–1324, OP 2). * (''Exposition of Aristotle's Sophistic refutations'', 1322–1324, OP 3). * (''Exposition of Aristotle's Physics'') (1322–1324, OP 4). * (''Exposition of Aristotle's Physics'') (1322–1324, OP 5). * (''Brief Summa of the Physics'', 1322–23, OP 6). * (''Little Summa of Natural Philosophy'', 1319–1321, OP 6). * (''Questions on Aristotle's Books of the Physics'', before 1324, OP 6).


Theological writings

* (''Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard''). ** Book I () completed shortly after July 1318 (OT 1–4). ** Books II–IV () 1317–18 (transcription of the lectures; OT 5–7). * (OT 8). * (before 1327) (OT 9). * (1323–24. OT 10). * (1323–24, OT 10).


Political writings

* (1332–1334). * (1334). * (before 1335). * XII(1335). * II(1337–38). * (1340–41). * (1341–42). * (1341–42). * lso known as (1346–47).


Doubtful writings

* (''Lesser Treatise on logic'') (1340–1347?, OP 7). * (''Primer of logic'') (1340–1347?, OP 7).


Spurious writings

* (OP 7). * (OP 7). * (OP 7). * (OP 7).


Translations


Philosophical works

*''Philosophical Writings'', tr. P. Boehner, rev. S. Brown (Indianapolis, Indiana, 1990) *''Ockham's Theory of Terms: Part I of the '', translated by Michael J. Loux (Notre Dame; London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1974) ranslation of , part 1*''Ockham's Theory of Propositions: Part II of the '', translated by
Alfred J. Freddoso Alfred J. Freddoso (born 1946) is an American philosopher and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and John and Jean Oesterle Professor Emeritus of Thomistic Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is the father of David Freddoso. See also *Ameri ...
and Henry Schuurman (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1980) ranslation of , part 2*''Demonstration and Scientific Knowledge in William of Ockham: a Translation of III-II, , and Selections from the Prologue to the '', translated by John Lee Longeway (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame, 2007) *''Ockham on Aristotle's Physics: A Translation of Ockham's '', translated by Julian Davies (St. Bonaventure, New York: The Franciscan Institute, 1989) *Kluge, Eike-Henner W., "William of Ockham's Commentary on Porphyry: Introduction and English Translation", ''Franciscan Studies'' 33, pp. 171–254, , and 34, pp. 306–382, (1973–74) *''Predestination, God's Foreknowledge, and Future Contingents'', translated by Marilyn McCord Adams and Norman Kretzmann (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969) ranslation of *''Quodlibetal Questions'', translated by Alfred J. Freddoso and Francis E. Kelley, 2 vols (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1991) (translation of ) * Paul Spade, ''Five Texts on the Mediaeval Problem of Universals: Porphyry, Boethius, Abelard, Duns Scotus, Ockham'' (Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett, 1994) ive questions on Universals from His d. 2 qq. 4–8


Theological works

*''The of William of Ockham'', translated by T. Bruce Birch (Burlington, Iowa: Lutheran Literary Board, 1930) ranslation of ''Treatise on Quantity'' and ''On the Body of Christ''


Political works

*, translated Cary J. Nederman, in ''Political thought in early fourteenth-century England: treatises by Walter of Milemete, William of Pagula, and William of Ockham'' (Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002) *''A translation of William of Ockham's Work of Ninety Days'', translated by John Kilcullen and John Scott (Lewiston, New York: E. Mellen Press, 2001) ranslation of *, translated in ''A compendium of Ockham's teachings: a translation of the '', translated by Julian Davies (St. Bonaventure, New York: Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University, 1998) *''On the Power of Emperors and Popes'', translated by Annabel S. Brett (Bristol, 1998) *Rega Wood, ''Ockham on the Virtues'' (West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 1997) ncludes translation of ''On the Connection of the Virtues''*''A Letter to the Friars Minor, and Other Writings'', translated by John Kilcullen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) ncludes translation of *''A Short Discourse on the Tyrannical Government'', translated by John Kilcullen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992) ranslation of * William of Ockham, uestion One of''Eight Questions on the Power of the Pope'', translated by Jonathan Robinson


In fiction

William of Occam served as an inspiration for the creation of
William of Baskerville William of Baskerville ( it, Guglielmo da Baskerville, ) is a fictional Franciscan friar from the 1980 historical mystery novel ''The Name of the Rose'' (''Il nome della rosa'') by Umberto Eco. Life and death ''The Name of the Rose'' is itself ...
, the main character of
Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of th ...
's novel ''
The Name of the Rose ''The Name of the Rose'' ( it, Il nome della rosa ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in ficti ...
'', and is the main character of '' La abadía del crimen'' (''The Abbey of Crime''), a video game based upon said novel.


See also

* Gabriel Biel * Philotheus Boehner * History of science#Middle Ages * List of Catholic clergy scientists * List of scholastic philosophers * Ernest Addison Moody * occam (programming language) * Ockham algebra * Oxford Franciscan school * Rule according to higher law *
Terminism Terminism is the Christian doctrine that there is a time limit for repentance from sin, after which God no longer wills the conversion and salvation of that person. This limit is asserted to be known to God alone, making conversion urgent. Among ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy
maintained by Paul Vincent Spade

at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
William of Ockham biography
at University of St Andrews, Scotland

at British Academy, UK

with an annotated bibliography
Richard Utz and Terry Barakat, "Medieval Nominalism and the Literary Questions: Selected Studies." ''Perspicuitas ''
* The Myth of Occam's Razor by William M. Thorburn (1918)
BBC Radio 4 'In Our Time' programme on Ockham
Download and listen * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2020 1287 births 1347 deaths 14th-century English writers 14th century in science 14th-century Latin writers 14th-century English mathematicians Medieval English mathematicians 14th-century philosophers Alumni of the University of Oxford Catholic clergy scientists Empiricists English philosophers English Franciscans English logicians English Christian theologians Founders of philosophical traditions Latin commentators on Aristotle Occamism People excommunicated by the Catholic Church People from the Borough of Guildford Philosophers of language Catholic philosophers Scholastic philosophers Scholasticism Anglican saints