William of Ockham

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Recommended: Influence of university education during the middle ages

William of Ockham is probably best remembered for his idea of metaphysical nominalism and "Okham's Razor," which is obviously named after him. William of Ockham was born between 1285- 1287 in Surrey, England soon to be named Ockham (Spade). Since historians know little to none about Ockham's birth and childhood we have to assume dates by inferring from what was written down about events of his life. He was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan monk.

At an early age, estimating preteen years, Ockham was `given to the Franciscan house in Ockham (Beckett). There Ockham most likely received his "grade school" education and his "high school" education in logic and science about the age of fourteen (Spade). Ockham took the traditional course of theological studies at the University of Oxford, however, did not complete the program and never became a fully qualified "master" of theology (Stanford Enc.). Between 1317 and 1319 he taught there on the Sentences of Peter Lombard-a 12th century theologian (Wagner). Ockham had to defend his views in 1323 before the Franciscan province's chapter meeting, which they were in suspicion of heresy. Heresy is any religious doctrine opposed to the church. Around the same time, someone (suspected to be John Lutrell, who had been Chancellor at the University of Oxford) went to the Papal court at Avignon and charged Ockham with teaching heresy (Stanford). In May 1324, he was called to Avignon to answer the charges and never returned back to England. He was denounced by the Pope and remained jailed for four years (O'Connor, Robertson). It was exaggerated that he was under house arrest; however, he was able to work on other projects and finish his last major work, the Quodibets. Final...

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...yclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2002 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed), URL= http://pato.standford.edu/archives/fall2002/entries/ockham/

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Paul Vincent Spade), "William of Ockham (Occam)," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (2002). URL= http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/archives/fall2002/entries/ockham/

Todd, Robert, "Occam's Razor," CarrollSkepDic (1998), URL=http://fandm.edu/Departments/Astronomy/NTW101/occam.html

Wagner, Robert, "William of Ockham," Letze Anderung (1995-1999), URL= http://www1.physik.tu-muenchen.de/~rwagner/me/ockham.html

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