The Hi, I'm Peter Adamson, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy Podcast, brought to you

with the support of the Philosophy Department at King's College London and the LMU in Munich. Online at www. History of Philosophy.net.

Today's episode, Do as you're told, Occam on ethics and political philosophy.

The medieval world was a world of hierarchies.

Landholding and military service were organized through feudalism,

with every man but the king having to fulfill obligations to his lord. The church too was

hierarchically arranged with the Pope at its apex.

Philosophy and theology were no exception.

After moving through the stratified educational system of the university, Scholastics would speculate about angels arranged in descending ranks,

about the subordination of all human sciences within a single system, and about the created

universe itself, which was seen as a hierarchically ordered

Cosmos ruled by God. Yet, as we've been seeing, it was also a time of

dissension and schism. There was rivalry between hierarchies, with the popes and emperors contending to be the truly

supreme representatives of God on earth, and there was tension within hierarchies too, as

when nobles resisted the demands of their kings or clerics protested at the

conduct or decrees of wicked popes.

But how could such dissent be justified?

How do we reject the leaders of our institutions without

rejecting the legitimacy of the institutions themselves? A number of scholars came to grips with

this question in the Middle Ages, none with more seriousness or subtlety than William of Occam.

In fact, he is sometimes called the more than subtle doctor to indicate that he's surpassed the subtle Doctor, Dunscotus.

In his later years, Occam devoted himself to polemics against a Pope whom he considered to be a

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