The complete critical edition of Opera Politica by William of Ockham
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34096/petm.num.esp.2025.16997Keywords:
William of Ockham, Critical Edition, Opera Politica, Dialogus, British AcademyAbstract
The author draws attention to the recently completed but largely unnoticed British edition of Opera Politica by William of Ockham († probably 1348). The effort to publish the entire political work of the English Franciscan scholar has taken more than eighty years, and it has now culminated in the final parts of the first critical edition of Ockham’s political masterpiece, the Dialogus, reconstructed in all its remaining sections. Until the late 20th century, this widely cited text, which offers a critical reassessment of the controversial arguments in the ongoing struggle between Church and State, was only available in early editions (particularly, Melchior Goldast’s Monarchia, from 1614) and modern reprints. Now, readers can compare the text with its manuscript transmission in the critical apparatus. This report provides an overview of the Opera Politica project and its editors before focusing on the last two volumes, originally planned as volumes VI and VII, but now incorporated as parts of the complete Dialogus edition. This unfortunate decision obscures the texts as standalone works and contributes to misunderstandings due to the discrepancies between the Opera Politica edition and the British Academy’s serial numbering on the title page. Uninformed or uncritical readers should be cautious of the chronological and biographical conjectures presented by the latest editor as if they were based on supposed textual observations. Despite these issues, the British edition of Opera Politica is commendable for its undeniable value in making Ockham’s renowned political philosophy critically accessible for future scholarship.
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