MARISILIA OF INGHEN. - Occamist, disciple of J. Buridan and his successor, in the second half of the 14th century, in the Faculty of Arts at Paris and in that of Theology. In 1367 and 1371 he was rector of the same University. Around 1383 he moved to the University of Heidelberg, then newly founded, of which he was the first rector. He died in 1396.
A nominalist, he nevertheless admits that concepts correspond to some likeness in individuals of the same species. While the existence of God can be demonstrated by reason, the same cannot be said of the creation of matter. But his name, like that of Buridan (v.) and Albert of Saxony (v.), is chiefly associated with the physical doctrine of impetus, used to explain local motion, and with the method, Bradwardine (v.) and perfected by Nicole Oresme (v.), which introduces into the study of physical phenomena the concept of mathematical "proportio," i.e., of function, so that M. is remembered among the precursors of Leonardo and Galileo.
Editions: Expositio sup. Anal. priora, Venice 1516; Textus dialectices de suppositionibus etc., Vienna 1512 and 1516; De generat. et corrupt., Venice 1518; Abbrev. libri Physicorum, ibid. 1521; Quaestiones subtilissimae super 8. II. Physicorum secundum nominalium viam (of doubtful authenticity), Lyons 1518; Quaestiones sup. quatuor II. Sententiarum, Strasbourg 1501.