John Baconthorpe

John Baconthorpe, OCarm (also Bacon, Baco, and Bacconius) ( 1290 – 1346) was a learned English Carmelite friar and scholastic philosopher.

Life John Baconthorpe was born at Baconsthorpe, Norfolk. at Blakeney, near Walsingham. He studied at Oxford though the implication of this is unclear.

He was a provincial prior of England from 1327 to 1333. Nearly three centuries later, it was still studied at Padua, the last home of Averroism, and Lucilio Vanini spoke of him with great veneration. (The text can be found in original Latin under the title Doctoris resoluti Joannis Bacconis Anglici Carmelitae radiantissimi opus super quattuor sententiarum libris.) Additionally, there are three Quodlibeta, questions on canon law, and commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, Augustine, and Anselm that have survived. Baconthorpe openly disagreed with many of these prohibited works, such as those by Giles of Rome and Godfrey of Fontaines. which Baconthorpe comes to target in many of his arguments. Despite this, he still believed that free will exists, without decisions necessarily having a cause. Effectively, he believed that souls make their own decisions which are imposed on human bodies, but God maintains a complete knowledge of each soul and each decision that will be made. As a result, he denies the possibility of any material mechanisms being involved in intellect.