Even among those who do not study philosophy, it is quite well known that William of Ockham, the man behind “Ockham’s Razor,” tried to disprove the idea of a
human soul. In philosophy, a razor is a device that is used to shave away unnecessary explanations, which is precisely what he is said to have done to the idea of the human soul.
William of Ockham received his degree from Oxford University after his studies when, for his final exam, he taught a one year course on the theology of Peter of Lombard, a theologian of the generation before. In those lectures, William challenged the accepted theological standard of the time, that one could reason from the particulars of our existence to necessary supernatural realities like a divine soul. I said that William received his degree, but he never actually got the teaching position that goes with it because those lectures angered the pope who summoned him for a trial, leading to his excommunication. Continue reading “Ockham's Tupperware”
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