One of his lines of argument is that certain things commonly thought to require explanation do not need any at all. Variety as such needs no cause; if some men are sodomites and others only attracted to black women, it can be put down simply to the variety of things. Similarly there is no need to posit demonic or astral influences, or direct intervention by God, to explain a run of coincidences. Oresme gives the same kind of naturalistic explanation of prophecies and their apparent success: “I also say that, if someone says many things, it is difficult for him not to speak the truth sometimes.
...more
