While Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Dominican Order established the dominant philosophical synthesis of the High Middle Ages, the Franciscans often presented a distinctive philosophical voice, one less impeccably orthodox and more inclined to challenge established norms. This rivalry between the two mendicant orders fostered a vibrant intellectual environment.
Three of the most important Franciscan philosophers—Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus, and William of Occam—each contributed unique perspectives. While rooted in medieval thought, their ideas also foreshadowed later developments in science and philosophy, particularly in their emphasis on experience, free will, and the limits of abstract reasoning.
Roger Bacon (c. 1214-1294 A.D.), often praised as a precursor to modern science, was a polymath with a passion for mathematics and experiment. He sharply criticized the intellectual ignorance of his contemporaries and the incompetence of those translating Greek and Arabic texts.
Bacon famously enumerated “idols”—bad habits of mind that lead to error—including the uncritical acceptance of authority, custom, and the opinion of the unlearned crowd. He valued experiment highly, illustrating its importance with the theory of the rainbow, and believed that science should focus on efficient causes rather than teleological explanations.
Despite his brilliance, his critical stance and suspected involvement with “black magic” often led to his imprisonment and suppression by his Franciscan superiors. This limited his immediate influence but secured his posthumous fame as a champion of empirical inquiry.
✨ Duns Scotus: The Subtle Doctor and Defender of Free Will
Duns Scotus (c. 1270-1308 A.D.), known as the “Subtle Doctor,” continued the Franciscan intellectual tradition, often in direct opposition to Aquinas. He famously defended the Immaculate Conception (a doctrine later adopted by the Catholic Church) and leaned towards Pelagianism in his strong emphasis on free will.
Regarding universals, Scotus was a moderate realist, believing that distinct individual things always differ in essence, a view closer to Platonism than Aquinas’s position. He also argued that sure and pure truth could not be known naturally without the “special illumination of the uncreated light,” supporting his view with quotations from Saint Augustine.
Scotus’s focus on evidence and the limits of human understanding without divine illumination, along with his robust defense of free will, marked a significant departure from the more deterministic and rationalistic trends of Thomism. His work influenced later philosophical debates on individuality and knowledge.
🪒 William of Occam: The Razor of Nominalism and Political Radical
William of Occam (c. 1290-1350 A.D.), arguably the most important schoolman after Aquinas, is best known for “Occam’s Razor.” Though he didn’t coin the exact phrase, the principle states: “Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity.” This powerful idea, which advocates for the simplest explanation, profoundly influenced later scientific thought.
In logic, Occam was a staunch nominalist. He asserted that only individual things exist and that universals are mere “terms” or concepts in the mind, not real entities. He sought to separate logic and human knowledge from metaphysics and theology, arguing that understanding is of individual things, not abstract forms.
This radical nominalism and his insistence on studying logic independently of theological dogma encouraged scientific research and helped pave the way for the intellectual shifts of the Renaissance.
Furthermore, Occam was a significant political radical. He fiercely opposed papal power and advocated for a democratic method of electing the Church’s General Councils. His alliance with Emperor Louis of Bavaria against Pope John XXII and his political treatises made him a controversial but highly influential figure. His arguments for popular sovereignty and criticism of papal temporal claims resonated strongly with later Protestant reformers like Martin Luther.
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Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy. Simon and Schuster, 1945.
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