William Ockham

Marilyn McCord Adams was a distinguished American philosopher and Episcopal priest. She taught medieval and philosophical theology at a number of schools during her career, including the University of California, Los Angeles; Yale University; and the University of Oxford. She was cofounder and president of the Society of Christian Philosophers and wrote several books, including Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God and Christ and Horrors.

"If I had written this book, I could die a happy man. I did not write it, but still I can join mediaevalists everywhere in celebrating its publication. . . . Adams's William Ockham will stand as the definitive study of Ockham's overall philosophical and theological views for a long time to come. . . . It is an impressive achievement. . . . Adams's book is a milestone." —The Philosophical Review"[Marilyn McCord Adams's] book William Ockham is a tribute to her persistent and careful scholarship. Her comprehensive study provides far more than a passing introduction to Ockham's thought and should serve as a basis for further discussion among Ockham experts." —Franciscan Studies"Both the Ockham scholar and the general reader interested in ontology, universals, epistemology, the philosophy of science (time, cause, and motion), and natural theology, will learn much from this extensive and detailed tribute." —The Philosophical Quarterly"Adams's present . . . Herculean effort is nothing if not the work of a precise mind getting absolutely clear about the arguments and issues under examination. . . . It is likely to remain the standard work on this scholastic giant for the next generation." —Canadian Journal of Philosophy"In Adams's study we get . . . the most thorough and careful study imaginable of [Ockham's] work. [It is a] huge and rich treasure house of medieval philosophy." —Philosophy of Religion"It is undoubtedly the most impressive, perceptive, and fair-minded study of both the strength and shortcomings of Ockham's metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion that has appeared in many a year." —International Studies in Philosophy "In this illuminating work, Adams offers an impressive and exhaustive series of detailed discussions of Ockham's thought on complex problems and issues within the domains of logic, ontology, epistemology, metaphysics, and theology. . . . The comprehensive and definitive treatment of each topic . . . makes Adams's studies useful as an introduction to the complex problems and concerns of medieval philosophy and theology in general." —Choice