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The Medieval Church · c. 1340

The Universal Treatise

Exigit Ordo Executionis

Nicholas of Autrecourt · c. 1299–1369

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What it is

An argument that nothing can be demonstrated beyond the principle of non-contradiction — not causation, not substance, not other minds — leaving only probability.

Why it lasted

The most radical scepticism of the Middle Ages, condemned at Paris in 1346 and its author made to burn his own writings.

Where to read it

Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.

These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.

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