136 Buridan, John
Cambridge University Press, 1981); Geoffrey Rowell, The
Liturgy of Christian Burial: An Introductory Survey of the
Historical Development of Christian Burial Rites(London:
Alcuin Club/S.P.C.K., 1977).
Buridan, John (Jean Buridan)(ca. 1297–ca. 1358)
nominalist philosopher, teacher at the University of Paris
Born about 1297 in Béthune in France, John Buridan
taught all his life at the arts faculty of the University of
PARIS. A student of WILLIAM OFOCKHAM, he based his
philosophy of language on an intransigent NOMINALISM
and his logic on the analysis of language. He later con-
demned William of Ockham. In natural philosophy, he
proposed a new theory of the cause of movement of pro-
jectiles or objects and formulated a hypothesis on an ini-
tial impulse by GODto all the heavenly spheres, which
continued then to move without resistance. He favored a
concept of many efficient causes over an idea of any one
final cause. He commented on ARISTOTLE’S Ethics,
defending the human freedom of choice against deter-
minism. His influence, though unorthodox, was great at
the University of Paris and in the newer universities of
central Europe. He died about 1358.
See alsoLOGIC.
Further reading:John Buridan, John Buridan on Self-
Reference: Chapter Eight of Buridan’s Sophismata, with a
Translation, an Introduction, and a Philosophical Commentary,
trans. G. E. Hughes (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1982); John Buridan, Jean Buridan’s Logic:
The Treatise on Supposition, the Treatise on Consequences,
trans. Peter King (Boston: D. Reidel, 1985); J. M. M. H.
Thijssen and Jack Zupko, eds., The Metaphysics and
Natural Philosophy of John Buridan(Leiden: Brill, 2001).Burids SeeBUYIDS.Burley, Walter (Burleigh, Gualterus Burlaeus)(ca.
1275–1344)mathematician, scientific thinker
Born about 1275, Walter was educated at Merton College,
at OXFORD, where he was much influenced by the ideas
of Robert GROSSETESTE. He remained to teach at that col-
lege, then one of the most important centers for the studyThe burying of plague victims in Tournai, 1349, from the Annals of Gilles de Muisit,1352, Ms. 13076–7, c. 24t, fol. 24v,
Bibliothèque Royale Albert I, Brussels, Belgium (Snark / Art Resource)