WILLIAM OF ALNWICK. - English scholastic, Franciscan, d. 1332. He follows, though with a certain independence, the Scotist doctrines. He is the author of a Commentary on the Sentences, of Quodlibeta, and of Questions on the Intelligible Act of Being.
In the latter work, W. asks what is the reality of the object of thought insofar as it is thought. Contrary to Duns Scotus, he concludes that it has no reality, not even a relative one: the fact that an object is thought adds nothing to it; in the intellect, the being of the object of thought is not distinct from the being of the intellect itself. He agrees with Duns Scotus, however, in denying rigorous demonstrative value to arguments in favor of the immortality of the soul: this truth is rendered absolutely certain only by Revelation.