Customer Reviews

Ockham - Philosophical Writings: A Selection

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This volume contains a nice amount of material for anyone interested in trying to read and understand Ockham's thought. The introduction is a nice treatise explaining the contents and providing the reader (especially the beginning reader) with a good explanation of Ockham's work. The book itself contains these particular philosophical works: 1) The notion of knowledge or science, 2) epistemological problems, 3) logical problems, 4) the theory of '[supposition,' 5) truth, 6) inferential operations, 7) being, essence, and existence, 8) the possibility of a natural theology, 9) the proof of God's existence 10) God's causality and foreknowledge, and 11) physics and ethics. So as you can see there is enough that is provided in this one volume to give any reader a better grasp on some of the things Ockham taught and espoused. If you are interested in Ockham's logical treatises (which is one of the things he is best known for) then I recommend Alfred J. Fredosso's translation of "Ockham's Theory of Propositions: Part II of the Summa Logicae" which is also available here at Amazon.

So, This text is great. I don't much care for medieval philosophy. It lacks the clarity that contemporary philosophy exhibits, sometimes. Anyways, Medieval Philosophy is always difficult for the english speaking student because it's all originally in Latin. However, this book satisfies the serious student by printing the Latin on the facing page. It is amazing. On several occasions as I was working through one of the sections, I had trouble understanding the arguments due to repitition of words or the use of different words in the English. With the Latin on the facing page, I was able to clear up issues that stem from the vagueness of translations. It was easier to see the string of Ockham's argument when viewing it in his orginal language. The preceeding reviewer expresses some of the books other merits. I just felt that you should all be made aware of the fantastic fact that this book has the original Latin.