Walter Burley was one of the most influential philosophers of the fourteenth century and occupied a central position in the philosophical debate of his time. Although mostly known for his sharp criticism of Ockham’s logic and natural philosophy, he developed his own philosophical system.
Oxford and Paris
After Burley had been active as a Master of Arts at the University of Oxford (1300–1310), he studied theology at the University of Paris and later taught there (1310–1326).
He was the author of more than seventy longer and shorter works. Apart from a preoccupation with logic and metaphysics, his work shows a great interest in natural philosophy.
In addition to independent treatises on natural philosophy, like the Tractatus primus and the Tractatus secundus, Burley wrote commentaries on the following libri naturales of Aristotle: Physica, De caelo, De generatione et corruptione, Meteora, De anima, De sensu et sensato, De somno et vigilia, De longitudine et brevitate vitae, De memoria et reminiscentia and De motu animalium.
Influential works
Walter Burley’s works had a strong influence on philosophers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and some of his works were printed, as his last commentary on the Physics, which was printed among others in Venice in 1609.
The pictures shown here are taken from this edition.