John Punch (theologian)

John Punch
Born1603
County Cork, Ireland,
Kingdom of Ireland
Died1661 (aged 57–58)
Paris, France
Occupation(s)Friar, priest, philosopher and theologian

John Punch (or John Ponce or, in the Latinate form, Johannes Poncius)[1] (1603–1661) was an Irish Franciscan scholastic philosopher and theologian.

Punch was ultimately responsible for the now classic formulation of Ockham's Razor, in the shape of the Latin phrase entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, "entities are not to be multiplied unnecessarily."[2] His formulation was slightly different: Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate.[3] Punch did not attribute this wording to William of Ockham, but instead referred to the principle as a "common axiom" (axioma vulgare) used by the Scholastics.[3]

  1. ^ John Punch; Johannes Poncius
  2. ^ A. C. Crombie, Medieval and Early Modern Science II (1959 edition) pg. 30.
  3. ^ a b Johannes Poncius’s commentary on John Duns Scotus's Opus Oxoniense, book III, dist. 34, q. 1. in John Duns Scotus Opera Omnia, vol.15, Ed. Luke Wadding, Louvain (1639), reprinted Paris: Vives, (1894) p.483a