1287 – 1347
William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347) was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher whose nominalist metaphysics fundamentally challenged realist assumptions inherited from Aristotle and the Church Fathers. He is best known for the methodological principle 'Ockham's Razor' (parsimony in explanation) and for his rigorous treatment of universals, future contingents, and the limits of papal authority. His work shaped the via moderna and influenced early modern philosophy, Protestant theology, and the development of empiricism.
Articulated nominalism: denied the real existence of universals, holding only particulars exist
Formulated Ockham's Razor (lex parsimoniae): entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity
Developed a sophisticated logic of future contingents, denying bivalence for propositions about undetermined futures
Challenged papal authority in political theology, defending the poverty ideal against John XXII
Advanced a voluntarist theology in which God's absolute power (potentia absoluta) is unconstrained by rational necessity
Both the existence monist and existence nihilist must establish that the premises of the exclusion argument (or any alternative they provide) have sufficient plausibility to override considerations from intuition and perception.
claimThe second 'broad assumption' (¬p ∧ ¬Fp) → P¬Fp is not true when p refers to a future contingency