William of Ockham · Philosophy
Ockham held that God can do anything that does not imply a contradiction, and that the entire created order is therefore <em>contingent</em> - freely chosen, and capable of having been otherwise. His distinction between God’s absolute and ordained power reshaped how thinkers viewed necessity in nature and in ethics.
You learned that Ockham defined omnipotence as the power to do anything not involving a contradiction, and distinguished God’s absolute power (everything non-contradictory God could do) from his ordained power (what God has in fact freely chosen to do). Explain the distinction, why it makes the created order rad…
Leads to David Hume.
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