Ockham and Political Discourse in the Late Middle Ages

A major historical reappraisal of the political thought of William of Ockham.

Takashi Shogimen (Author)

9780521143981, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 June 2010

322 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

'… an important and illuminating exploration of the theological and moral purpose behind Ockham's political writings.' Heythrop Journal

The English Franciscan William of Ockham (c.1285–1347) was one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in late medieval Europe. Fresh scholarship has shown his profound impact on logic, metaphysics, epistemology and the philosophy of language in the late Middle Ages and beyond. Following a dispute between the papacy and his Order, Ockham abandoned his academic career and devoted himself to anti-papal polemics. Scholars have produced divergent and often contradictory interpretations of Ockham as a political thinker: a destructive critic of the medieval Church, a medieval Catholic traditionalist, the Franciscan ideologue, and a constitutional liberal. This 2007 book offers a fresh reappraisal of Ockham's political thought by approaching his anti-papal writings as a series of polemical responses. His aggressive and persistent attack on the papacy emerges in this study as an attempt to rescue the ethical foundations of the Christian society from the political influences of heretical popes.

Preface
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. The poverty controversy
2. A general theory of heresy
3. The problem of papal heresy
4. Papal plenitudo potestatis
5. Petrine primacy
6. The defence of human freedom
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]