This episode introduces the life and influential ideas of William of Ockham (1287-1347). He was a controversial figure in his own time and is famous for his principle, known as Ockham's razor. It is a principle of economy, adopted by many philosophers and scientists, including Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking. Its modern version recommends to use as few principles as possible to explain a maximum of facts. Ockham himself advised not to make unnecessary assumptions and not to postulate that abstract terms - such as beauty, cathood or humanity, - lead an extra-mental existence of their own in some sort of Platonic realm.

Literature:

This episode is based on my article: 'A razor sharp mind', in The Times Higher Education Supplement (14.03. 1986).

There are informative articles on Ockham in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.