A Dictionary of Philosophy, Third Edition
. c. 1285–1349. English Franciscan theologian, born at Ockham (Surrey), who worked mainly in Oxford, Avignon and Munich. He worked against the same general background as AQUINAS and Duns SCOTUS, but he separated philosophy further from theology by severely limiting the extent to which God’s existence can be proved. He is commonly regarded as a nominalist (see UNIVERSALS), and is famous for OCKHAM’S RAZOR.
He contributed substantially to logic and the theory of meaning, among other topics. His writings include the Summa Logicae, Quodlibeta Septem (seven miscellanies), and commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and on various works of ARISTOTLE.
P.Boehner (ed. and tr.), William of Ockham: Philosophical Writings: A selection. Nelson, 1957, updated, Hackett, 1990. (Has Latin text with English translation.)
M.Loux (ed. and tr.), Ockham’s Theory of Terms: Part I of the Summa Logicae, Notre Dame, 1974.
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