Preface

Summary

This book is an account of Ockham's political principles, the central ideas about individual action and governmental institutions elaborated in the large body of polemical writings he produced at Munich in the two decades from 1328 until his death. I have tried to provide as clear an account of these ideas as possible and to do so from Ockham's own standpoint. This has proved a difficult and lengthy enough task to require omitting other important matters or treating them all too briefly. Thus, comparisons of Ockham's ideas with the classical and earlier medieval traditions as well as with the political thought of his contemporaries have been greatly restricted. My main concern with the political and spiritual movements of the time has been to see them, if I could, as they appeared to Ockham, not as they were in rei veritate. Little is said in this study about Ockham's use of canon and civil law sources. I have also omitted any assessment of his influence on later thought and action. Although I have explored the relations between Ockham's political works and his nominalist speculative writings, I am certain that further detailed investigation in this area, too, would be rewarding.

Regarding all of these matters, however, I believe that the subjects treated here have some claim to priority. For example, Ockham's extensive and sometimes original use of legal materials should be more understandable if account has been taken of the place of law and lawyers in his broader scheme of thought.