William of Ockham Biography

William of Ockham was a 14th-century English scholastic philosopher and member of the Franciscan Order. Both a logician and theologian, he is considered one of the central figures of thought during the High Middle Ages. As an outspoken critic of Thomas Aquinas, he challenged the latter’s synthesis of faith and reason, which had been widely accepted by the Catholic Church. This brought him into conflict with the Church, particularly since Aquinas’s ideas were deeply embedded in its teachings. As a theologian, William of Ockham went against the mainstream by asserting that God is a matter of faith and not subject to scientific or rational proof. In the realm of metaphysics, he was a staunch advocate of nominalism, arguing that universals are mere names without independent existence. In logic, he developed a version of supposition theory to explain how words bear meaning. He also defended the idea that perception is the basis of both abstract concepts and our knowledge of the world. William’s philosophical approach was grounded in the principle of simplicity, famously known as "Occam’s Razor." This principle asserts that unnecessary assumptions should be eliminated in favor of the simplest explanation supported by evidence. His courageous and incisive reasoning left a lasting impact on philosophy and theology, shaping debates on metaphysics, logic, and epistemology.