William of Ockham and the Divine Freedom by H. Klocker, S.J. (review)

BOOK REVIEW H. Klocker, SJ. William ofOckham and the Divine Freedom. Marquette University Press, 1992. Pp. 141. Ockham viewed through Thomistic spectacles presents a distorted image. This small volume purports to present a unified view which it simply does not possess. It would have been more honest to entitle the volume "The Collected Articles (by himself) of Harry Klocker, S.J." The following are the sources of this volume reprinted almost without change. The introduction (pp. 7-13) comes from Franciscan Studies 45 (1985): 245-51. Chapter 1 on Efficient Causality probably comes from the 1960 issue of the Thomist (which I did not have at my disposal). Chapter 2 on Final Causality comes from the Modern Schoolman 43 (1966): 233-47. Chapter 3 on the Knowledge of Self (part 1) comes from the Thomist 44 (1980): 415-25. On the Knowledge of God (part 2) comes from the Modern Schoolman 35 (1958): 70-90. Chapter 4 on the Divine Ideas comes originally from the Modern Schoolman 57 (1980): 356-60 and is recopied(l) in Franciscan Studies 45 (1985): 252-57. I don't know where the last two chapters come from, but with regard to the last chapter on the Via Moderna (but dealing mainly with Jean Gerson), any attempt to regard Ockham as the "Founding Father" of a school of nominalism, abstracting from his direct influence on Adam Wodeham and Gabriel Biel, is more fanciful conjecture than serious research. Given the above disclosures, I now would like to point out some factual inaccuracies and inadequate research which accompany this collection. On page 7 Ockham's dates are listed as 1290-1347, whereas on page 1-2 he is reported as having been excommunicated in 1328 and having appealed to Rome for reconciliation in 1347. This means that Klocker was ignorant of G. Gál's article in Franciscan Studies 42 (1982): 90-95: "William of Ockham Died 'Impenitent' in April 1347." On page 4 Ockham is reported as having been summoned to Avignon in 1323. Actually, in this year Ockham was required to explain his views on Relations Franciscan Studies 52 (1992) 330 BOOK REVIEW to a provincial chapter in Cambridge (see G. Etzkorn, "Ockham at a Provincial Chapter: 1323. A Prelude to Avignon," in Archivum Franciscanutn Historicum 83 [1990]: 557-67). He was actually summoned to Avignon during the summer of 1324. The entire critical edition of Ockham's philosophical and theological works was completed before Klocker's volume was published, yet his bibliography lists only Opera Theologica 1-4 and 9 and only Opera Philosophica 1. Contrary to the author's note 8 on page 58, the critical edition does have the question to which he alludes. It is question 20 of Book 2 and the passage to which he refers is found in Opera Theologica 5: 439-40. Moreover, the author seems unaware of any other doubtful and/or spurious works (published in Opera Philosophica 7) other than the Centiloquium. More seriously, Fr. Klocker shows no evidence of having read any studies on Ockham subsequent to the publication of his most recent article in 1980. The title of this "collection" which selects "Divine Freedom" would certainly be one of several themes which could be selected to synthesize Ockham's contribution. One could with equal validity focus on "Divine Simplicity" or "Ontological Miserliness" to mention but a few alternate choices. I would now like to turn to more substantive issues, principally that it is impossible to understand Ockham or give an accurate account of his philosophico-theological corpus by taking Thomistic doctrines as a dogmatic starting point. "As a result [according to the Via Moderna] the whole area of faith is greatly expanded and becomes in turn the only safeguard against a scepticism introduced by philosophy" (Klocker 7). If this evaluation is meant to apply to Ockham, it must be taken with a large dose of salt. Ockham, like Scotus, was convinced that we are certain about our own interior acts of which the rational soul (intellect-will) is the cause. Moreover, he was acutely cognizant of the various levels of proof, certitude, and probability stemming from the analysis of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics. Unlike...