Wyclif, John

(c. 1320–1384)

Scholastic philosopher and reformer. Wyclif's major work was the Summa de Ente, a collection of two books with six treatises in each. His central preoccupation was the problem of universals . Wyclif accepts an out-and-out realism, arguing the Platonic and Augustine position of universalia ante rem, universals are prior to the particular in logic and time. They form the way in which God understands creatures; a singular thing partakes of a universal as a kind of projection of the mind of God. It follows that it is incapable of annihilation. Wyclif's views were condemned at the Council of Constance. Politically Wyclif's belief in predestination threatened to remove the rationale for the organized Church of his day, an unpopular consequence, compounded by his view that only those with grace could exercise dominion.