NICHOLAS ORESME. - French philosopher, theologian, and economist. He studied theology in Paris in 1348. In 1356 he became master of this discipline at the College of Navarre; canon of Rouen in 1362 and of Paris in 1363; dean of the church of Rouen in 1364; bishop of Lisieux in 1377; d. 11 July 1382.
Lost (except for one *quaestio*: cf. *Rech. de théol. anc. et méd.*, 14 [1947], p. 305), his commentary on the *Sentences* survives in the theological treatise *De communicatione idiomatum* concerning Book III (Beitr. *z. Gesch. d. Philos. d. Mitt.*, XXI, 4-5). Of great importance is his *Traité de la sphère* and even more so *Le livre du ciel et du monde*, in which O. raises serious doubts about the value and rigor of Aristotelian demonstrations, and in which the theory, attributed to Heraclides Ponticus, of the motion of the earth is expounded at some length. He adopts, with some modifications, the theory of *impetus* supported by G. Buridan (v.) to explain local motion, and likewise abandons the doctrine of the “moving intelligences” of the celestial spheres. With Ockham (v.) he considers the existence of other worlds possible; he also criticizes the Aristotelian thesis that the earth must occupy the center of the universe. But the work that exerted the greatest influence is *De uniformitate et difformitate intentionum*, in which he attempts to apply the graphic schemes of Euclidean geometry to *intensio* and the *missio formarum*, introducing a quantitative criterion into qualitative variations. This method became widely diffused from the 14th to the 16th century and helped to prepare the mathematical frameworks for the new physics.
Editions: *Arist. Politica et Oeconomica gallice versa* (Paris 1486); *Decem libri Ethic. Arist. et plures libri Cicer. et aliorum auct. gall. versa* (ibid. 1488); *Traictie de la premiere invention des monnoies* (ed. M. L. Wolowski, ibid. 1864); *Le traictie de la sphère* (ibid., n.d.; 2nd ed., 1508); *Le livre du ciel et du monde* (ed. by A. D. Menut and A. J. Denomy, in *Mediaeval studies* of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies of Toronto, 3-5 [1941-43], with complete bibliography, V. indices).