It’s a while since I did an “on this day” style post, so here goes. On the 26th of May 1328 William of Ockham was forced to flee Avignon by Pope John XXII. William of Ockham, or Occam, is probably best known for his philosophical principle, Occam’s Razor. Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, translates as: entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity. It is commonly understood as the simplest explanation is usually the best one. The razor is to shave away the unnecessary elements in the explanation.
William was born around 1288 in the Surrey village of Ockham. He was sent to a Franciscan order (Greyfriars), probably in London, at an early age. By 1318 he was known to be a student of theology at the University of Oxford. He seems to have completed the necessary requirements for a master’s degree, but he was not accepted as a teacher by the university. He wrote a critical commentary on a standard work of theology by Peter Lombard, which was not well received by the Church authorities. He was sent to Avignon to defend himself to the papal court. I think this is why he didn’t get his MA. There’s no reason to look for other explanations. There, that’s Occam’s Razor in action!
In Avignon William became involved in conflict with Pope John XXII. As a Franciscan he believed in Apostolic poverty, but Pope John wasn’t too keen on poverty. William and his Franciscan friends fled, and took refuge with the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria. He died in Bavaria shortly before the outbreak of the plague in 1347.
William wrote that “…only faith gives us access to theological truths. The ways of God are not open to reason.” Occam’s Razor, a tool of reasoning, must yield to faith. I explored the conflict between faith and reason in the second book of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, Fire and Earth.
I asked ChatGBT to paint William of Occam with his razor for the illustration to this post. He was clearly ahead of his time in terms of fashion.