William of Ockham Quotes
William of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar, philosopher, and theologian, one of the most important figures of late medieval thought. He defended a thoroughgoing nominalism, denying the real existence of universals outside the mind, and he is remembered for the methodological principle of parsimony now known as Ockham's razor. The quotes below are attributed to William of Ockham, organized by topic.
Browse William of Ockham by topic
William of Ockham on Freedom
-
“Purely philosophical assertions which do not pertain to theology should not be solemnly condemned or forbidden by anyone, because in connection with such [assertions] anyone at all ought to be free to say freely what pleases him.”
Dialogus(1494) | Vol. I, Book 2, Ch. 22 , as translated by John Scott (1999)
William of Ockham on God
-
Attributed to William of Ockham:
“All things are possible to God which are not contradictory.”
William of Ockham on Justice
-
“Logic is the most useful tool of all the arts . Without it no science can be fully known. It is not worn out by repeated use, after the manner of material tools, but rather admits of continual growth through the diligent exercise of any other science. For just as a mechanic who lacks a complete knowledge of his tool gains a fuller [knowledge] by using it, so one who is educated in the firm principles of logic, while he painstakingly devotes his labor to the other sciences, acquires at the same time a greater skill at this art.”
Summa Logicae (c. 1323) , Prefatory Letter, as translated by Paul Vincent Spade (1995) -
“It is on account of theology alone that any assertion whatsoever should be called catholic or heretical. For only an assertion which is consonant with theology is truly catholic, and only one which is known to be opposed to theology is known to be heretical. For if some assertion were found to be opposed to decrees of the highest pontiffs, or also of general councils or also to laws of the emperors, nevertheless, if it were not in conflict with theology, even if it could be considered false, erroneous or unjust, it should not be counted as a heresy.”
Vol. I, Book 1, Ch. 2 , as translated by John Kilcullen and John Scott (2003).
William of Ockham on Knowledge
-
“It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer.”
Frustra fit per plura, quod potest fieri per pauciora. -
Attributed to William of Ockham:
“Nothing is to be posited as necessary in nature unless it is established either by self-evidence, or by experience, or by the authority of Sacred Scripture.”
-
“Summa Logicae (c. 1323) , Prefatory Letter, as translated by Paul Vincent Spade (1995)”
Logic is the most useful tool of all the arts . Without it no science can be fully known. It is not worn out by repeated use, after the manner of material tools, but rather admits of continual growth through the diligent exercise of any other science. For just as a mechanic who lacks a complete knowledge of his tool gains a fuller [knowledge] by using it, so one who is educated in the firm princip -
“The head of Christians does not, as a rule, have power to punish secular wrongs with a capital penalty and other bodily penalties and it is for thus punishing such wrongs that temporal power and riches are chiefly necessary; such punishment is granted chiefly to the secular power. The pope therefore, can, as a rule, correct wrongdoers only with a spiritual penalty. It is not, therefore, necessary ”
A Letter to the Friars Minor " (1334) as translated in A Letter to the Friars Minor and other Writings (1995) edited by A. S. McGrade and John Kilcullen, p. 204. -
“Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate”
Plurality is never to be posited without necessity . Quaestiones et decisiones in quattuor libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi [Questions and the decisions of the Sentences of Peter Lombard] (1495), i, dist. 27, qu. 2, K; also in The Development of Logic (1962), by William Calvert Kneale, p. 243; similar statements were common among Scholastic philosophers, at least as early as John Duns ( Duns Sco -
“Frustra fit per plura, quod potest fieri per pauciora.”
It is pointless to do with more what can be done with fewer. Summa Totius Logicae , i. 12, cited in "Ockham's Razor" by Paul Newall at Galilean Library (25 June 2005) -
“Intuitive cognition is such that when some things are cognized, of which one inheres in the other, or one is spatially distant from the other, or exists in some relation to the other, immediately in virtue of that non-propositional cognition of those things, it is known if the thing inheres or does not inhere, if it is spatially distant or not, and the same for other true contingent propositions, ”
Opera Theologica (1986), edited by Gedeon Gal, Vol. I, p. 31.
William of Ockham on Mind
-
Attributed to William of Ockham:
“Every universal is a thought of the mind, and not anything outside the mind.”
William of Ockham on Politics
-
Attributed to William of Ockham:
“No man is bound to obey what is contrary to natural reason.”
-
“The head of Christians does not, as a rule, have power to punish secular wrongs with a capital penalty and other bodily penalties and it is for thus punishing such wrongs that temporal power and riches are chiefly necessary; such punishment is granted chiefly to the secular power. The pope therefore, can, as a rule, correct wrongdoers only with a spiritual penalty. It is not, therefore, necessary that he should excel in temporal power or abound in temporal riches, but it is enough that Christians should willingly obey him.”
A Letter to the Friars Minor " (1334) as translated in A Letter to the Friars Minor and other Writings (1995) edited by A. S. McGrade and John Kilcullen, p. 204.
William of Ockham on Truth
-
“Plurality is not to be posited without necessity.”
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate -
“Intuitive cognition is such that when some things are cognized, of which one inheres in the other, or one is spatially distant from the other, or exists in some relation to the other, immediately in virtue of that non-propositional cognition of those things, it is known if the thing inheres or does not inhere, if it is spatially distant or not, and the same for other true contingent propositions, unless that cognition is flawed or there is some impediment.”
Opera Theologica (1986), edited by Gedeon Gal, Vol. I, p. 31.
Things actually not said by William of Ockham
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as William of Ockham but are in fact from someone else. Did William of Ockham say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
-
Did William of Ockham say this? No.
“Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. | Though widely cited as Occam's razor , this popular wording is not found in his extant works.