WILLIAM OCKHAM ( c.1287-1347 ).
He was a Franciscan friar, among the most prominent figures in the history of philosophy during the High Middle Ages.
He is best known today for his principle know as " Ockham Razor ": "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity". He is important not inly in metaphysics, also in other areas of medieval philosophy-logic, physics or natural philosophy, ethics, political and theology.
LIFE:
Ockham was born in 1287 in Surrey. He studied at Oxford and early he entered the Order of St.Francis.
Denounced by Pope John XXII for dangerous teachings, he was held in house detention for four years in Avignon ( France ), while the ortodoxy of his writings was examined.
After Ockham fled to Munich in 1328 to seek the protection of Louis IV and he wrote the papacy and defended the emperor his death.
He died in Munich, apparently of the plague, while seeking reconciliation with Pope Clement VI.
WRITINGS:
Ockham´s writings are divided in "academic" and the "political". Most important writings are:
- Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard.
- Seven Quodlibets.
- Summa of Logic.
- Questions on Aristoteles Books of the Physics.
- Eight Questions on the Power of the pope.
- Dialogue.
REFERENCES IN RECENT POPULAR CULTURE:
- In the novel " The Name of the Rose " by Umberto Eco, the monastic detective uses logic in the manner of Ockham and, like him, has faced charges og heresy.
- In a episode of The X-Files, Fox Mulder deriddes Ockham´s Razor.
- In 1997, the movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster, Ockham´s razor is used to explain the doubts she has over the existence of God.
_________________________________________________________________
Credits:
No comments:
Post a Comment