Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Since the appearance in 1913 of Hofer's critical survey of Ockham's life, a revival of interest in Ockham's non-polemical works has encouraged the publication of monographs and articles to an almost embarrassing extent. Yet in contrast to the energy expended by scholars in this field of research stands their apparent failure to agree upon the order in which Ockham produced them. While Baudry places the Sentence-Commentary after the four logical works and the Physics, Boehmer and Iserlolr reverse the position. Again, Iserloh is persuaded that the Logic followed the Quodlibeta and was written at Avignon between 1234 and 1328, whereas Baudry is of opinion that it was written before 1324 at Oxford: Scholz,” on the other hand, conjectures that the Logic and probably the Quodlibeta were produced at Munich after 1328. In face of these divergent opinions it is difficult to discern upon what principles these scholars have based their conclusions.
1 Hofer, J. ‘Biographische Studien über Wilhelm von Ockham, O.F.M.’, Archivum Franciscanum historicum 6 (1913) 209–33, 439–65, 654–69.Google Scholar
2 Baudry, L., Guillaume d'Occam, sa vie, ses œuvres, ses idées sociales et politiques. I (Paris 1949) 24, 32, 40, 60, 261–70.Google Scholar
3 Boehner, P., The Tractatus de successivis, attributed to William Ockham (Franciscan Institute Publications 1; New York 1944) 18.Google Scholar
4 Iserloh, E., ‘Um die Echtheit des “Centiloquium” — ein Beitrag zur Wertung Ockhams und zur Chronologie seiner Werke,’ Gregorianum 30 (1949) 94.Google Scholar
5 Ibidem 100.Google Scholar
6 Vie 80.Google Scholar
7 Scholz, R., Wilhelm von Ockham als politischer Denker und sein Breviloquium de principatu tyrannico (Stuttgart 1944; unveränderter Nachdruck 1952) 4.Google Scholar
8 The Logic, or Summa logicae, is cited at least twice by Ockham in his Physics (MS Oxford, Merton College 293, fol. 1ra and fol. 4va), and his Physics is cited by Walter Burley in MS Vat. Lat. 5934, dated 2 March 1326 (new style): see Maier, A., ‘Zu einigen Problemen der Ockhamforschung,’ Archivum Franciscanum historicum 46 (1953) 183–4.Google Scholar
9 Felder, H., Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Studien im Franziskanerorden bis um die Mitte der 13 Jahrhunderts (Freiburg im Breisgau 1904) 539.Google Scholar
10 Gibson, Strickland, Statuta antiqua Universitatis Oxoniensis (Oxford 1931) 50.Google Scholar
11 Vie 70-71 n. 4, and ‘Gauthier de Chatton et son commentaire des Sentences,’ Arch. d'hist. doctr. et litt. 14 (1943–5) 354.Google Scholar
12 Baudry, L., ‘Sur trois manuscrits occamistes,’ Archives d'hist. doctr. et litt. 10–11 (1935–6) 142–7.Google Scholar
13 For the dating of the smaller tract, incipit ‘Circa conversionem panis,’ and of the second, incipit ‘Stupenda superne munera,’ much depends on manuscript tradition and on an interpretation of the eircumstances in which the tracts were written: and these circumstances appear to be reflected in Ockham's trial at Avignon, at any rate as regards the second tract. I hope to comment briefly on these two aspects at a later date. Google Scholar
14 Printed with the Ordinatio of Book I at Lyons in 1495. The text of this edition represents the Secunda redactio. Google Scholar
15 The only known text of this Prima redactio is to be found in MS Florence Bibl. Naz. A. 3.801: Boehner, P., Tractatus de successivis 20 and ‘The Realistic Conceptualism of William Ockham,’ Traditio 4 (1946) 315; also Brampton, C.K., ‘Guillaume d'Ockham et la “Prima redactio” de son Commentaire sur les Sentences,’ Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 56 (1961) 470–6. and ‘The probable date of Ockham's “Lectura Sententiarum”,’ Archivum Franciscanum historicum , 55 (1962) 367–74.Google Scholar
16 The Quodlibeta septem, ed. Paris circa 1487 and Strasbourg 1491. Google Scholar
17 The Expositio in librum Porphyrii, ed. in 1496 by Mark of Benevento, together with the Expositio in librum Praedicamentorum and the Expositio in duos libros Perihermenias, under the title Expositio aurea super artem veterem. (Future reference = ed. cit.) Google Scholar
18 The Summa logicae or Summa totius logicae; five editions between 1498 and 1591: later at Oxford in 1675, and more recently by Boehner, P., in Franciscan Institute Publications (New York): Book I, 1951; Book II and the pars prima of Book III, 1954.Google Scholar
19 The Quaestiones in libros Physicorum, the Expositio in duos libros Elenchorum, and the Expositio super octo libros Physicorum are unedited, except for short passages. Google Scholar
20 The text used in this discussion is the one edited by Boehner, Realistic Conceptualism, 320–35. Google Scholar
21 Baudry, , Vie 36 n. 3, remarks: ‘C'est seulement dans les Quodlibets et dans le Quaestiones in libros physicorum qu'il finira par opter ou tout au moins par dire explicitement que son choix est fait.’ It would appear that Baudry has overlooked the importance of this highly significant passage.Google Scholar
22 Subjective, in the modern sense, for which the Medieval Latin equivalent is obiectivum. Google Scholar
23 Realistic Conceptualism 318.Google Scholar
24 The whole of I Dist. 2 q. 8 has been critically edited by Boehner, P. in his article, ‘The Text Tradition of Ockham's Ordinatio,’ in The New Scholasticism 16 (1942)224–40.Google Scholar
25 Rep. 2 q. 14: ‘Et quando dicit quod intellectus agens facit universale in actu, verum est, quia facit quoddam esse fictum et producit quemdam conceptum in esse obiectivo, qui terminat eius actum, qui tantum habet esse obiective et nullo modo subiective’: Boehner, P., ‘The Notitia Intuitiva of Non-existents according to William Ockham,’ Traditio 1 (1943) 271–2.Google Scholar
26 Mohan, G.E., ‘The Prologue to Ockham's Exposition of the Physics of Aristotle,’ Franciscan Studies 26 [n. s. 5] (1945) 239.Google Scholar
27 Vie 45.Google Scholar
28 See note 17 supra. Google Scholar
29 See notes 37 and 38 infra. Google Scholar
30 Summa logicae 2. 36: ‘Alibi expositum est super quartum Physicorum et super secundum Sententiarum.’Google Scholar
31 Sur trois manuscrits 155.Google Scholar
32 According to Boehner (Realistic Conceptualism 316) the Porphyry and the Predicaments show clear signs of the intellectio theory, in addition to the fictum theory. In the Perihermenias, Prologue § Y, we read: ‘Sic igitur istas ultimas opiniones reputo probabiles. Quae tamen sit vera et quae falsa, discutiant studiosi.’ The two definitions (fictum and intellectio) appear in the Elenchi in MS Paris Bibl. Nat. 14721, fol. 119ra–b, as shown by Baudry, Vie 31 n. 1. Google Scholar
33 ‘ Completa expositione Porphyrii, ad praedicamenta ac totam logicam exponendam accedendum est.’Google Scholar
34 The first three cf the logical works are contained in MS Bruges 499, fol 1na-vb, with the Elenchi occupying fol. 61ra-100rva: so also in MS Oxford Bibl. Bodl. Canon. Misc. 558, fol. 1ra-92vb, with the Elenchi occupying fol. 93™-144™. The Prima redactio is probably the work indicated by the alibi reference in the early part of the Porphyry: ‘quia de eis alibi diffusius est tractatum’; ed. cit. fol. 8va, quoted from Baudry, Vie 27, an opinion with which he disagrees. For the connection between the Porphyry and the Predicaments, see note 33 supra. Google Scholar
35 Baudry (Vie 29) and Boehner (Text Tradition 240 n. 29) agree that the alibi reference in § T (Q) of 1 Dist. 2, q. 8 is to the Perihermenias. According to Baudry (Vie 32 n. 3) the Perihermenias gives an infra-reference to the Elenchi: ‘Diffusius dicetur de eis in libro Elenchorum’ (MS Paris Bibl. Nat. 6431, fol. 116ra). The Elenchi (Baudry, Vie 31 n. 6) gives a supra-reference to the Predicaments and an infra-reference to the Physics: ‘Hoc autem diffusius declaratum est in predicamentis et amplius declarabitur in libro physicorum’: MS Paris Bibl. Nat. 14721. fol. 117rb. Google Scholar
36 In the Elenchi (Baudry, Vie 262) Ockham states: ‘ista responsio super metaphysicam et super librum Sententiarum diffusius ostendetur’ (MS Paris Bibl. Nat. 14721, fol. 119vb). This reference in the Elenchi to the Sentence-Commentary is interpreted by Baudry to mean that as the exposition on the Metaphysics was never written by Ockham, his commentary on the Sentences was similarly not written. But Ockham's failure to produce an Exposition on the Metaphysics does not invalidate his promise to give this responsio in a later edition of his Sentences, that is, his Secunda redactio. Google Scholar
37 The Logic. 1.25 cites (a) the Porphyry: ‘poterit legere librum Porphyrii, ubi istam materiam multo diffusius pertractavi’; (b) the Sentences (2.2): ‘probavi in primo libro Sententiarum distinctione secunda’; and (c) the Physics (1.44): ‘de hoc in libro Physicorum perscrutatum est. ’ Google Scholar
38 The Physics (MS Chambéry 23, fol. 66vb) cites the Predicaments: ‘Ostensum est in libro predlcamentorum’ (Baudry, Vie 47) and the Elenchi: ‘sicut ostensum est in secundo elenchorum’ (MS Chambéry 23, fol. 109ra cited by Baudry, Vie 45). Google Scholar
39 The Quodlibeta give a supra-reference to the Physics and a future alibi reference which the Quaestiones fulfil: Quodl. 1 q.5 (Paris ed.): ‘sicut dictum est de motu in libris Physicorum diffusive et alibi dicetur.’ For the repeated references in the Quaestiones to the Quodlibeta, see Baudry, , Sur trois manuscrits (n. 12 supra) 155.Google Scholar
40 That is, objectively, in the modern sense. Google Scholar
41 Boehner, , Realistic Conceptualism 333.Google Scholar
42 ‘ Possunt vocari … quaedam ficta secundum modum loquendi alionan’: ed. Boehner, Realistic Conceptualism 327–8.Google Scholar
43 Vie 70-71 n. 4.Google Scholar
44 In view of their ignorance as contrasted with his own knowledge (‘sicut puerulus didici,’ Summa logicae 1.19) Ockham composed this treatise ‘ad utilitatem simplicium’ (1.9). Google Scholar
45 Ed. Paris, 4 q. 35: ‘Praeterea tale fictum impediet cognitionem rei’. It would be ‘quoddam tertium medium inter cognitionem et rem,’ and therefore ‘quando formo hanc propositionem mentalem Deus est bonus, non intelligo Deum in se, sed illud fictum, quod videtur absurdum.’ Google Scholar
46 MS Paris Bibl. Nat. 15886, fol. 134rb–va, cited from Baudry, Vie 71. Google Scholar
47 They are, (a) ‘Omnis res posita extra animam est singularis eo ipso’; (b) ‘Est intelligendum secundum Avicennam, quod ille mentis conceptus qui est quaedam qualitas animae puta species intelligibilis seu actus intelligendi et intentio secundum multos est in se res quaedam singularis …’: Pelster, F., ‘Heinrich von Harclay, Kanzler von Oxford, und seine Quästionen,’ Miscellanea Francesco Ehrle I (Studi e testi 37; Rome 1924) 337.Google Scholar
48 Deedes, C., Registrimi Johannis de Pontissara (Canterbury and York Socity 19.1; London 1915) 121. Pontissara's Letter to the prior is dated 11 November 1301.Google Scholar
49 Seven books from this library have been identified, five of them belonging to the 13th century, or earlier: Ker, N.R., Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 3; London 1941) 74.Google Scholar