La possibilité d’une science métaphysique dans l’ontologie de Guillaume d’Ockham : le concept d’étant
William Ockham (ca. 1285-1347) is a fervent nominalist. The only things that can possibly exist in his ontology are individual things. Universals do not exist, they are simply words. This work wonders about the possibility of metaphysics as a science in Ockham’s narrow ontology. In fact, it is a question that has been little discussed in the litterature on Ockham. To do so, our analysis will be interested in Ockham’s conception of scientific knowledge. Also, our principal goal is to question the concept of being which is the primary subject of metaphysics. In this context, Ockham’s conception of concept will be analysed and how our intellect obtains them by intuitive and abstractive cognitions.  We will then focus on the Occamian conception of equivocity and univocity as well as its distinction between absolute and connotative terms. Finally, we will use these conceptual tools to answer the following question: does Ockham consider that the concept of being if univocal to God and creatures and what are the impacts of the univocity of being on the possibility of a knowledge of God?
Ockham concept science being univocity equivocity metaphysics