Talk:Whitbyian Heresy

Strange name for a heresy

The "Whitbyian Heresy" is a strange name for a heresy. Usually heresies are named after the name of the person who develops or promulgates the heresy. In this case, the heresy would be most properly named either the "Alexandrian Heresy" or possibly the "Alexandrine Heresy", although an Alexandrine is a specific type of poetry. The problem is that "of Whitby" is not actually part of Alexander of Whitby's name, AFAIK, but Clarke is treating it as if it were. (It's what's called a locative identifier).

However, there may be precedent for this, as "Ockhamist" is used as the adjective for "Ockhamist nominalism" which is the the view that only individual things exist, not universal, abstract entities. This view is most commonly associated with William of Ockham, but a detailed discussion of medieval philosophy and metaphysics was not the initial intent of this comment.--Chuckhoffmann (talk) 04:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)