Episode Details

In this episode of pplpod, we sharpen our focus on William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), the English Franciscan friar and "Venerable Beginner" whose radical ideas dismantled medieval metaphysics and challenged the highest powers of the Church,. While he is most famous today for Occam’s razor—the principle of parsimony urging us not to multiply entities beyond necessity—we discover how this tool was actually part of a theological argument that viewed God as the only true ontological necessity.

Join us as we explore:

• The Roots of Empiricism: How Ockham’s "Nominalism" argued that universals (like "humanity") are merely names or mental concepts rather than existing realities, making him a pioneer of modern epistemology.
• A Friar on the Run: The dramatic story of Ockham’s summons to Avignon to answer charges of heresy, his conflict with Pope John XXII over the doctrine of Apostolic poverty, and his eventual excommunication after fleeing to the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor,.
• Church vs. State: Ockham’s revolutionary political treatises, which argued for a complete separation of spiritual and earthly rule, and his early formulation of social contract theory, which anticipated thinkers like Thomas Hobbes and J.S. Mill,,.
• Faith and Logic: Why Ockham believed that human reason could not prove the immortality of the soul or the unity of God, insisting instead that such truths are accessible only through revelation,.

From his influence on Martin Luther to his inspiration for the detective in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, tune in to hear how this medieval logician laid the groundwork for Western constitutionalism and scientific method,,.