Constitutionalism and Consent: The Roles of Quod omnes tangit in the Political Thought of William of Ockham
Lecture by Cary J. Nederman
Given at the University of Notre Dame on September 13, 2024
Abstract: The maxim Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari debet (often abbreviated Qot), or some variant thereof, was commonly employed in medieval political and legal writings. Translated into English as “what touches all must be approved by all,” it has ordinarily been understood by scholars to express a nascent justification of constitutionalism, democracy or popular sovereignty, or at any rate a principle underlying some system of representative government that limited the power of rulers. By contrast, I assert that Qot constituted a sort of rhetorical flourish, a cipher, that could be manipulated to suit a vast array of legal and political arguments. In support of this claim, I investigate the deployment of Qot in several of William of Ockham’s writings on the relation between the church and temporal power. Ultimately, it will become evident Ockham made it serve many purposes according to his polemical particular requirements.
Cary J. Nederman is professor of political science at Texas A&M University. His research concentrates on the history of Western political thought, with a specialization in Greek, Roman, and early European ideas up to the seventeenth century.
Top Image: William depicted in a manuscript of Ockham’s Summa Logicae, MS Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 464/571, fol. 69r – Wikimedia Commons
Constitutionalism and Consent: The Roles of Quod omnes tangit in the Political Thought of William of Ockham
Lecture by Cary J. Nederman
Given at the University of Notre Dame on September 13, 2024
Abstract: The maxim Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari debet (often abbreviated Qot), or some variant thereof, was commonly employed in medieval political and legal writings. Translated into English as “what touches all must be approved by all,” it has ordinarily been understood by scholars to express a nascent justification of constitutionalism, democracy or popular sovereignty, or at any rate a principle underlying some system of representative government that limited the power of rulers. By contrast, I assert that Qot constituted a sort of rhetorical flourish, a cipher, that could be manipulated to suit a vast array of legal and political arguments. In support of this claim, I investigate the deployment of Qot in several of William of Ockham’s writings on the relation between the church and temporal power. Ultimately, it will become evident Ockham made it serve many purposes according to his polemical particular requirements.
Cary J. Nederman is professor of political science at Texas A&M University. His research concentrates on the history of Western political thought, with a specialization in Greek, Roman, and early European ideas up to the seventeenth century.
Top Image: William depicted in a manuscript of Ockham’s Summa Logicae, MS Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 464/571, fol. 69r – Wikimedia Commons
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