Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Who knew?
Marsilius of Inghen (c.1330-96), Dutch philosopher and theologian. Born near Nijmegen, Marsilius studied under Buridan, taught at Paris for thirty years, then, in 1383, moved to the newly founded University of Heidelberg, where he and Albert of Saxony established nominalism in Germany. In logic, he produced an Ockhamist revision of the Tractatus of Peter of Spain, often published as Textus dialectices in early sixteenth-century Germany, and a commentary on Aristotle's Prior Analytics. He developed Buridan's theory of impetus in his own way, accepted Bradwardine's account of the proportions of velocities, and adopted Nicholas of Oresme's doctrine of intension and remission of forms, applying the new physics in his commentaries on Aristotle's physical works. In theology he followed Ockham's skeptical emphasis on faith, allowing that one might prove the existence of God along Scotistic lines, but insisting that, since natural philosophy could not accommodate the creation of the universe ex nihilo, God's omnipotence was known only through faith.This entry, from my copy of The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, is signed "J.Lo." Who knew? (Apologies to John Longeway.)
Improvised @ 10:11 AM 
