372. William's Philosophical Teaching. Relations of Philosophy to Theology. -- Following Scotus he separates altogether the material object of philosophy from that of theology. Like him, he forbids reason to explore the truths of faith; while he enlarges, to the detriment of philosophy, this forbidden region wherein he believes the intellect to be incapable of reaching certitude. Thus the disciple emphasizes the scepticism of the master: Between the two systems there is in this matter a difference of degree, but not of kind.^{1} {1} STÖCKL (Gesch. d. Philos. d. Mittelalters, ii., pp. 986 sqq.) points out how in matters purely theological Ockam propounds anti-rational theories, e.g., that God could have become incarnate in an ox or in a stone. In this way Ockam and his successors gave the opponents of Catholic theology a pretext for saying that not only must reason refrain from attempting to demonstrate the truths of theology, but that the latter are represented as actually contrary to reason.