The legitimacy of power in William of Ockham's “political” writings
Abstract
The article aims to reconstruct and analyze the foundations of legitimacy in William of Ockham’s so-called “political” writings. While these reflections emerged in the historical context of disputes over evangelical poverty and the scope of spiritual and secular authority, they also address broader considerations about the nature of in civil community. An analysis of selected passages from Ockham’s Dialogue and writings classified as Opera Politica reveals a concept of political authority increasingly understood as a licit power that can be exercised by the people. Such a licit power according to Ockham, falls under the category of so-called natural laws on supposition, which constitute one of the three types of natural law. This perspective allows licit power to be understood, on the one hand, as derived from ius naturale and rooted within the political community, and on the other, as a prerequisite for order and, consequently, the existence of collective political entities. The Franciscan philosopher’s insights reveal the complexity of the relationship between natural law and political authority following the departure from corporatist frameworks.
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