William of Ockham, << OK uhm >> (1284?-1347?), also spelled Occam, was an English philosopher and theologian. He was the most influential scholastic thinker of the 1300’s (see Scholasticism ). His attitudes toward knowledge, logic, and scientific inquiry played a major part in the transition from medieval to modern thought.
Ockham believed that the primary form of knowledge came from experience gained through the senses. He based scientific knowledge on such experience and on self-evident truths—and on logical propositions resulting from those two sources.
In his writings, Ockham stressed the principle that “entities must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary.” This principle became known as Ockham’s Razor. In philosophy, according to Ockham’s Razor, a problem should be stated in its basic and simplest terms. In science, the simplest theory that fits the facts of a problem is the one that should be selected.
Ockham was born in southern England. He joined the Franciscans and eventually became prominent in that religious order. Ockham studied at Oxford University and then taught theology. In 1324, Pope John XXII called him to Avignon, France, to answer charges of heresy (teaching false doctrine). However, he was never formally condemned. Ockham became involved in a controversy over the poverty of Jesus and His apostles in which he wrote critically, and brilliantly, against the pope, who eventually excommunicated him. Ockham’s political writings propose a view of human rights and limited government that anticipate much of modern political thought. Ockham lived in Munich, Germany, from 1330 until his death.
See also John XXII ; Scholasticism .
