Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) is one of the most important philosophers of the seventeenth 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 relation to ideas about faith and reason. He examines the entirety of Malebranche's writings, including the famous The Search After Truth, which was admired and criticized by both Leibniz and Locke. Pyle presents an integrated account of Malebranche's central theses, occasionalism and 'vision in God', before exploring and assessing Malebranche's contribution to debates on physics and biology, and his views on the soul, self-knowledge, grace and the freedom of the will.This penetrating and wide-ranging study will be of interest to not only philosophers, but also to historians of science and philosophy, theologians, and students of the Enlightenment or seventeenth century thought.
Andrew Pyle is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol. He is the author of Atomism and its Critics and the editor of Key Philosophers in Conversation and the fomer editor of the journal Cogito.
Chapter One: Introduction 1. Life and Works 2. Descartes and Augustine 3. Faith and Reason 4. Difficulties Chapter Two: Tensions in Cartesian Metaphysics 1. Richard Watson's Downfall of Cartesianism 2. Descartes on Ideas 3. Later Cartesians on Ideas 4. Descartes on Causation 5. Later Cartesians on Causation Chapter Three: The Vision in God 1. The Argument for Ideas 2. The Eliminative Argument for the Vision in God 3. The Argument from Properties 4. Intelligible Extension 5. Efficacious Ideas 6. Nadler's Malebranche Chapter Four: The Dispute with Arnauld 1. Arnauld's Vraies et Fausses Idees 2. Malebranche's Defence of the Vision in God 3. What was at stake? Arnauld's Version 4. What was at stake? Malebranche's Version 5. Deeper Reasons for the Conflict. Chapter Five: Malebranche on Causation: Occasionalism and Continuous Creation 1. How not to think of Occasionalism 2. The Idea of Necessary Connection 3. Particular Causal Relations 4. Continuous Creation 5. Continuous Creation and Volontes Generales 6. The Best of all Possible Worlds? 7. Objections and Replies Chapter 6: Malebranche's Physics: The Laws of Motion 1. Malebranche's Cartesian Inheritance 2. The Philosophical Foundations of Physics 3. First Revision of Descartes: drop the 'Force of Rest' 4. Second Revision of Descartes: drop the Scalar Conservation Principle 5. Third Revision of Descartes: drop hard bodies 6. Is Malebranche an empiricist malgre lui? Chapter Seven: Malebranche's Biology 1. Nature and Supernature Chapter Eight: The Downfall of Malebranchism 1. Metaphysical Difficulties 2. Epistemological Difficulties 3. Ethical Difficulties 4. Theological Difficulties 5. Malebranche's Influence.
'Among the very best general introductions to Malebranche written in English.' - Mind'...few can read Malebranche without seeing that he is a genuine philosopher. Andrew Pyle's excellent book...is the culmination of this renewed interest in Malebranche...just the book we have been waiting for.' - Nicholas Jolley, Times Literary Supplement
