William of Ockham

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Fourteenth-centuryScholasticphilosopher and controversial writer, born at or near the village of Ockham in Surrey,England, about 1280; died probably atMunich, about 1349. He is said to have studied at Merton College,Oxford, and to have hadJohn Duns Scotus for teacher. At an early age he entered the Order of St. Francis. Towards 1310 he went toParis, where he may have hadScotus once more for a teacher. About 1320 he became a teacher(magister) at theUniversity of Paris. During this portion of his career he composed his works onAristotelean physics and onlogic. In 1323 he resigned his chair at theuniversity in order to devote himself toecclesiastical politics. In the controversies which were waged at that time between the advocates of thepapacy and those who supported the claims of thecivil power, he threw his lot with the imperial party, and contributed to the polemical literature of the day a number of pamphlets and treatises, of which the most important are "Opus nonaginta dierum", "Compendium errorum Joannis Papæ XXII", "Quæstiones octo de auctoritate summi pontificis". He was cited before the pontifical Court atAvignon in 1328, but managed to escape and join John of Jandun andMarsilius of Padua, who had taken refuge at the Court of Louis ofBavaria. It was to Louis that he made the boastful offer, "Tu me defendas gladio; ego te defendam calamo".

In his controversial writings William of Ockham appears as the advocate of secular absolutism. He denies the right of thepopes to exercise temporal power, or to interfere in any way whatever in the affairs of the Empire. He even went so far as to advocate the validity of the adulterous marriage of Louis's son, on the grounds of political expediency, and the absolute power of the State in such matters. In philosophy William advocated a reform ofScholasticism both in method and in content. The aim of this reformation movement in general was simplification. This aim he formulated in the celebrated "Law of Parsimony", commonly called "Ockham's Razor": "Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate". With this tendency towards simplification was united a very marked tendency towards skepticism a distrust, namely, of the ability of thehumanmind to reach certitude in the most important problems ofphilosophy. Thus, in the process of simplification he denied the existence of intentional species, rejected the distinction between essence and existence, and protested against theThomisticdoctrine of active and passiveintellect. His skepticism appears in hisdoctrine thathumanreason can prove neither theimmortality of thesoul nor the existence, unity, andinfinity ofGod. Thesetruths, he teaches, are known to us by Revelation alone. In ethics he is a voluntarist, maintaining that all distinction between right and wrong depends on the will ofGod. William's best known contribution toScholastic philosophy is his theory ofuniversals, which is a modified form ofNominalism, more closely allied toConceptualism than toNominalism of the extreme type. The universal, he says, has no existence in the world of reality. Real things are known to us byintuitiveknowledge, and not by abstraction. The universal is the object of abstractiveknowledge. 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, for 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, asRoscelin taught, nor asermo, asAbelard held, namely the word as used in the sentence, but themental substitute for real things, and the term of the reflective process. For this reason Ockham has been called a "Terminist", to distinguish him fromNominalists and Conceptualists.

Ockham's attitude towards the established order in theChurch and towards the recognized system ofphilosophy in the academic world of his day was one of protest. He has, indeed, been called "the firstProtestant". Nevertheless, he recognized in his polemical writings the authority of theChurch in spiritual matters, and did not diminish that authority in any respect. Similarly, although he rejected the rational demonstration of severaltruths which are fundamental in theChristian system of theology, he held firmly to the sametruths as matters offaith. His effort to simplifyScholasticism was no doubt well-intentioned, and the fact that simplification was the fashion in those days would seem to indicate that a reform was needed. The over-refined subtleties of discussion among theScholastics themselves, the multiplication of "formalities" by the followers ofScotus, the undue importance attached by some of theThomists to their interpretation of the intentional species, and the introduction of the abstruse system of terminology which exceeded the bounds of good taste and moderation--all these indicated that the period of decay ofScholasticism had set in. On the other hand, it must be said that, while his purpose may have been the best, and while his effort was directed towards correcting an abuse that really existed, Ockham carried his process of simplification too far, and sacrificed much that was essential inScholasticism while trying to ridScholasticism of faults which were incidental.

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