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Malebranche (Arguments of the Philosophers) PDF

304 Pages·2003·1.11 MB·English
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M A L E B R A N C H E ARGUMENTS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS The purpose of this series is to provide a contemporary assessment and history of the entire course of philosophical thought. Each book contains a detailed, critical introduction to the work of a philosopher or school of major influence and significance. Also available in the series: AQUINAS * NIETZSCHE Eleonore Stump Richard Schacht * DESCARTES PLATO Margaret D. Wilson Justin Gosling * HEGEL * PLOTINUS M.J. Inwood Lloyd P. Gerson * HUME * ROUSSEAU Barry Stroud Timothy O’Hagan KANT * THE PRESOCRATIC Ralph C.S. Walker PHILOSOPHERS Jonathan Barnes KIERKEGAARD Alastair Hannay * SANTAYANA Timothy L.S. Sprigge * LOCKE Michael Ayers * THE SCEPTICS R.J. Hankinson * KARL MARX Allen Wood * WITTGENSTEIN, 2nd edition Robert Fogelin * MERLEAU-PONTY Stephen Priest * also available in paperback M A L E B R A N C H E Andrew Pyle First published 2003 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 2003 Andrew Pyle All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Pyle, Andrew. Malebranche / Andrew Pyle. p. cm. – (The arguments of the philosophers) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Malebranche, Nicolas, 1638–1715. I. Title. II. Series. B1897 .P95 2002 194–dc21 2002032459 ISBN 0-203-41770-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-41915-4 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–28911–4(Print Edition) In memory of David Hirschmann (1939–97), teacher, colleague and friend, lover of the good things of life – French civilisation, slow food, red wine, bridge, and the rationalist philosophy of the seventeenth century. My one regret regarding this book is that he will never read it, although it owes so much to him in so many ways. CONTENTS CONTENTS Abbreviations and editions x Preface xii 1 Introduction 1 Life and works 1 Descartes and Augustine 5 Faith and reason 9 Difficulties 13 2 Tensions in Cartesian metaphysics 18 Richard Watson’s Downfall of Cartesianism 18 Descartes on ideas 21 Later Cartesian accounts of ideas 28 Descartes on causation 33 Later Cartesian accounts of causation 39 3 The Vision in God 47 The argument for ideas 47 The eliminative argument for the Vision in God 50 The argument from properties 57 Intelligible extension 61 Efficacious ideas 67 Nadler’s Malebranche 71 4 The dispute with Arnauld over the nature of ideas 74 Arnauld’s Vraies et Fausses Idées 75 Malebranche’s Réponse 79 What is at stake? Arnauld’s version of the debate 83 What is at stake? Malebranche’s version of the debate 85 Deeper reasons 89 vii CONTENTS 5 Occasionalism and continuous creation 96 How not to think of occasionalism 96 The idea of necessary connection 98 Particular causal relations 101 Continuous creation 111 Continuous creation and volontés générales 114 Is this the best of all possible worlds? 118 Objections and replies 121 6 Malebranche’s modifications of Cartesian physics 131 Malebranche’s Cartesian inheritance 131 Malebranche’s philosophical physics 141 Malebranche’s first revision of Descartes: drop the force of rest 144 Malebranche’s second revision of Descartes: abandon the scalar conservation principle 147 Malebranche’s third revision of Descartes: reject hard bodies 150 Is Malebranche an empiricist malgré lui? 154 7 Malebranche’s biology 158 Nature and supernature 158 Descartes’ naturalistic cosmogony 160 Worlds and organisms in Malebranche 161 The theory of pre-existence 166 Creation and special providence 173 The problem of monsters 176 The maternal imagination and original sin 180 Conclusion: reason and experience in Malebranche’s biology 182 8 Malebranche on the soul and self-knowledge 186 Descartes’ arguments for the immateriality of the soul 186 We lack a clear idea of the soul 188 Divine and human knowledge 191 The via negativa route to dualism 195 Personal immortality under threat 198 Metaphysics and introspection 200 The sciences of psychology 203 Two final questions 207 viii CONTENTS 9 Malebranche on freedom, grace and the will 209 Philosophical background: continuous creation and the Vision in God 209 Theological background: Augustine against the Pelagians 211 Freedom and grace in the Recherche 215 The Traité de la Nature et de la Grâce 221 The controversy with Arnauld 227 The prémotion physique 230 10 The downfall of Malebranchism 234 Epistemological difficulties 235 Metaphysical difficulties 242 Ethical difficulties 246 Theological difficulties 252 Malebranche’s influence 257 Notes 262 Bibliography 279 Indexes 286 ix

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Nicolas Malebranche is one of the most important philosophers of the 17th Century after Descartes. A pioneer of Rationalism, he was one of the first to champion and to further Cartesian ideas. Andrew Pyle places Malebranche's work in the context of Descartes and other philosophers, and also in its r
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