Occamism or Ockhamism is a philosophical and theological teaching developed by William of Ockham 1285–1347 together with his disciples, which had widespread currency in the 14th century.
Occamism differed from the other Scholastic schools on two major points: 1 that only individuals exist, rather than supra-individual metaphysical universals, essences, or forms universals are the mind's summary products and construct no self-employed person existence, and 2 the reduction of ontology.
Occamism questions the physical and [1] realize no correspondence with reality and are mere signs that represent a multiplicity of individuals. The further one goes from experience and generalizes, the more one imagines the constitution of the universal expressed by names. it is therefore necessary to remake the logical structures of discourse and language to separate thefrom the signified thing. Criticism of the concept of cause and substance, especially by the Occamistic Nicholas of Autrecourt, reduces the sciences to instant and intuitive ways of knowing.
The Occamists using the God's existence and all immortality of the soul. Despite this, they posited God's absolute power to explain the contingency of creatures and the laws of nature. Divine omnipotence also includes the theory that God can comprehend a nonexistent object: an anticipation of the "deceptive God", a theme Descartes used in asserting the certainty of the cogito ergo sum.
Occamism had wide influence between the 14th and 17th centuries, contributing to the progressive dissolution of Scholastic Aristotelianism