Occamism (or Ockhamism) is the philosophical and theological teaching developed by

William of Ockham William of Ockham or Occam ( ; ; 9/10 April 1347) was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, apologist, and theologian, who was born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey. He is considered to be one of the major figures of medie ...

(1285–1347) and his disciples, which had widespread currency in the 14th century. Occamism differed from the other Scholastic

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

on two major points: (1) that only individuals exist, rather than supra-individual metaphysical universals,

essence Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property (philosophy), property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the ...

s, or forms (universals are the mind's abstract products and have no independent existence), and (2) the reduction of

ontology Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...

Content and method

Occamism questions the physical and Aristotelian

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

and, in particular, insists the only reality accessible to knowledge is intuitive. The universals, which exist only in the mind, have no correspondence with reality and are mere signs that symbolize a multiplicity of individuals. The further one goes from experience and generalizes, the more one imagines the constitution of the universal expressed by names. It is therefore necessary to revise the logical structures of discourse and language to separate the sign from the signified thing. Criticism of the concept of cause and substance, especially by the Occamistic Nicholas of Autrecourt, reduces the sciences to immediate and intuitive ways of knowing. The Occamists using the

nominalist In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are two main versions of nominalism. One denies the existence of universals—that which can be inst ...

method separate theology from Aristotelian foundations, making them lose any possibility of presenting themselves as science, and reducing confidence in the power of reason applied to supposed demonstrations of

God's existence The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and theology. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God (with the same or similar arguments also generally being used when talking about the exis ...

and any immortality of the

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

. Despite this, they posited God's absolute power to explain the contingency of creatures and the laws of nature. Divine omnipotence also includes the idea that God can comprehend a nonexistent object: an anticipation of the "deceptive God", a theme Descartes used in asserting the certainty of the

cogito ergo sum The Latin , usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am", is the "first principle" of René Descartes's philosophy. He originally published it in French language, French as , in his 1637 ''Discourse on the Method'', so as to re ...

. Occamism had wide influence between the 14th and 17th centuries, contributing to the progressive dissolution of Scholastic

Aristotelianism Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by Prior Analytics, deductive logic and an Posterior Analytics, analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics ...

Notes

: De contemptu mundi (book 1, v. 952) satirical work by Bernard of Cluny, a Benedictine monk of the 12th century who attacked the corruption of the laity and the Church of his time and who mentioned the nominalistic polemic of the 12th century against the reality of universals: a debate that, according to philosophical historiography, Occamism will take up in the 14th century. According to other authors, Occamism does not resume the nominalistic theses but expresses about universals the doctrine of conceptualism.In Enciclopedia Garzanti di Filosofia

Content and method

See also

Notes

References

Further reading