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William of Ockham
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Excommunication of William of Ockham

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Also known as: Doctor Invincibilis, Venerabilis Inceptor, William Occam, William Ockham
Written by
Paul D. Vignaux
President, Section of Religious Sciences, École Pratique des Hautes Études (Institute for Advanced Research), Paris, 1961–72. Author of Philosophy in the Middle Ages: An Introduction.
Paul D. Vignaux
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Quick Facts
Also called:
William Ockham
Ockham also spelled:
Occam
Byname:
Venerabilis Inceptor (Latin: “Venerable Enterpriser”), or Doctor Invincibilis (“Invincible Doctor”)
Born:
c. 1285, Ockham, Surrey?, Eng.
Died:
1347/49, Munich, Bavaria [now in Germany]
Subjects Of Study:
Occam’s razor
Roman Catholicism
See all related content

Excommunicated after his flight from Avignon, Ockham maintained the same basic position after the death of John XXII in 1334, during the reign of Benedict XII (1334–42), and after the election of Clement VI. In these final years he found time to write two treatises on logic, which bear witness to the leading role that he consistently assigned to that discipline, and he discussed the submission procedures proposed to him by Pope Clement. Ockham was long thought to have died at a convent in Munich in 1349 during the Black Death, but he may actually have died there in 1347.

Paul D. Vignaux