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Three day mini course on topics in Medieval Philosophy. This year's topic is "Introducing Ockham & His Razor: Mind & Metaphysics, Logic, Epistemology, & Ethics." Course runs June 2-4, 2017. Guest lectures by Peter King (Toronto), Elizabeth Karger (CNRS, Paris).n We begin with a general introduction to Ockham's place in the history of philosophy from Democritus to Descartes. Then we turn to Ockham's logic and his most popular work, the Summa logicae. In this connection we will discuss Ockham's distinction between absolute and connotative terms and his theory of supposition, a theory that corresponds roughly to modern reference theory. n On day two we take up Ockham's Epistemology, the distinction he drew between intuitive & abstractive cognition, his approach to problems of certainty and judgment, and his response to skeptical worries. In this connection we will discuss the razor in its application of sensible species. That afternoon our topic will be nominalist metaphysics & the razor as Ockham deploys the principle of parsimony to justify his denial of common natures and his rejection of some of the Aristotelian categories, such as motion and relation. More generally we see an approach to physics with minimal reliance on metaphysics.n Day three begins with philosophy of mind. Here we will see Ockham refusing to posit faculties of will and intellect distinct from the intellective soul itself, while admitting a distinction between the sensitive and intellective souls. The course will close with a discussion of Ockham's ethics and politics. In ethics we will consider the ground of the good and the connection of the virtues; in politics we will focus on property rights, a major source of controversy within the church.n Undergraduates are welcome to take the course, but must have the instructor's permission.