Abstract

This second volume of the critical edition of William of Ockham’s commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard maintains the same standard of excellence as did the first. All the major manuscripts are collated in the text, the notes and critical apparatus are complete, and the type is large and clear. This volume contains the second and third distinctions of Book I of Ockham’s commentary, material of particular interest to philosophers. Here Ockham launches his attack on Scotistic realism in answer to such questions as "whether the universal is real outside the mind, but not really distinct from the individual." Now that the work of one of the founding fathers of nominalism is available in a reliable edition, philosophers have fertile territory for re-exploring past solutions to these still present logical and epistemological problems. The introduction to this volume is only a supplement to that of the first volume, but it does add some important material. Another manuscript has been located which was almost certainly the basis for the early printed edition of Ockham’s work. The importance of this text, together with its reasonable price and easy availability, make it practically a necessary addition to any university library.—K. M.