OCCAM
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OCCAM
allv break down under the strain to which it %vas sub- jected by liim, it became too complex and rigid for any later Ulysses to bend, and lost its availabilitj' with suc- ceeding generations. To this rejection of" the great cre- ation of the Middle Ages Occam contributed in another mode; if he should not rather be regarded as himself, in this respect, the creature of the times and of the ten- dencies of the times. No other schoolman connected dialectics so closely with practical life, or linked specu- lation and academic disputation so intimately with the pressing questions which agitated contemporaneous so- ciety. If he did not succeed in bringing scholasticism home to men's business and bosoms — an achievement incompatible with its nature — he did bring logic and metaphysics from the cloisters and from " the shady spaces of philosophy," and associated them with the politics and the ecclesiastical transformations of the day. The letters of Eloise and Abelard show how the desiccated members and hardened sinews of technical ratiocination may be adapted to the poignant expres- sion of frenzied love — quid non cor/it amor? In the writings of Occam the same dry and drear}' formidas are rendered applicable to the popular and instinctive aspirations of the times. Occam thus unconsciously gave predominance to passion, interest, rude instinct, and popular tendencj' over abstract reasoning and for- mal controversy, though himself preserving all the ex- ternals of his tribe. He maintained himself on the ancient and tottering throne, but a new race was S])ring- ing around him. When the monarch of the woods had fallen, the undergrowth shot up into tall timber, and filled the forest with an unlike production. The school of Occam survived, and the ranks of the schoolmen still continued to be adorned with illustrious names, such as those of John Gerson, cardinal D'Ailly, and others; but the age of the great leaders of sects had passed awaj'^, and the generation of the Epifjoni derives distinction from other qualities than those which had given re- nown to their precursors.
Life. — The biography of the schoolmen, from the nature of their pursuits, is usually jejune and obscure. It rarely presents the fascination which is afforded by the romantic story of Abelard, or the calm instruction which is offered by the career of Bonavcntura, or the angelical Thomas of Aquino. Until Occam had con- quered fame, and had become a power among men, few and trifling are the details of his career that have been transmitted to us, and even the chronology of bis for- tunes is indistinct and confused. The name of Occam, by which he is habitually known, is derived from the humble hamlet of Occam, Ockham, or Okeham, which lay in the wastes of Surrey, and straggled along the southern outskirts of what is now designated as Ock- ham Heath. The growing population of six centuries, and the proximity of London, have cleared and re- claimed the wilderness, and improved culture has con- verted sterility into productiveness. At the close of the 13th century, and in the reigu of Henry III or of Kdward I, when Occam was born, the country around his birthplace must have been a dreary tract, given up to black cattle and hogs, except in scattered patches wliich had been tamed by the indomitable perseverance and far-reaching hope of monastic fraternities. The exact date of his birth has not been ascertained, but it may be concluded that he first saw the light before the 13th century had entered upon its last quarter, as he had attained distinction, and was regius professor of theology in the I'nivcrsity of Paris, in the early years of the 14th century, and died at an advanced age before the century had half expired. His brightness as a boy attracted the attention of the Cordeliers, who induced him to take the vows of the Franciscan Order, and who aflforded him the best opportunities for cultivating his precocious talents. He was sent by them to Jlerton College, Oxford — this great university liaving been brought into renown under the supervision of Kobert Grossetestc, bishop of Lincoln, and the teachings of
Frater Agnellus, Adam de Marisco, and Roger Bacon. It must have been at this time that Duns Scotus, also an alumnus of Merton, and then at the height of his eminent reputation, was attracting to Oxford the thirty thousand pupils whom he is said to have drawn thither. Occam attended his courses, and became the favorite pupil of the Subtle Doctor ; but his own mind Avas of a bold and independent character — " nullius addictus ju- rare in verba magistri." He did not hesitate to assail the positions of his teacher, and to propound keen and embarrassing objections. After attaining his degree he opened a course of lectures, and excited almost as much enthusiasm jfs his master, winning many bearers from him. Duns Scotus was the acknowledged chief of the Realistic School, which had long been dominant, and was then reigning almost without opposition. Occam revived the doctrine of the Nominalists, which, if not actuallj' dead, had long been dormant. A violent an- tagonism thus arose between the Occamists and the Scotists — a discordance which frequently led to blows and wounds between the disputants. The belli teterriina causa may appear trivial and ridiculous to us with our changed habits of thought and diverse aspirations, but in the 12th, 13th. and 14th centuries it was neither a pla\' upon words nor a fantastic difference to contend that abstract notions, or universals, were entia realia, entia intellifjibilia, or entia rntionalia. The dissension involved the antagonism of the profoundest convictions, and was immediately implicated with the gravest ques- tions, religious, ecclesiastical, political, and intellectual, which were then agitating society, and imperatively demanding a practical solution. See Nominalism and Realism. As Protogenes divided the delicate colored line of Apelles by one still more delicate of different color, according to the anecdote reported by Pliny, so Occam drew still more attenuated distinctions among the fine and intricate lines of the logical propositions of Duns. Nor were these distinctions and divisions merely caprices of dialectical ingenuity. Occam was earnest, sagacious, and ardent for truth and practical results, under all the disguises of the cumbrous machinery of scholastic ratiocination. It has justly been said of him that '• his eager, restless, and active mind was always at work acquiring and testing every kind of knowledge that presented itself, and his subdued enthusiasm early marked him out as one who would become a leader of men. . . . The abstract dialect of the times could not veil his powerfid, clear, and concrete vision ; he must see everything with his own eyes ere he will be- lieve it or teach it. He was full of sturdy self-depend- ence, which made itself felt on questions both ofCluirch and State policy." How often has it happened that the si)eculations of the great thinkers of other days have been slighted or misunderstood because their language has been forgotten and their meaning become indis- tinct !