Continuum Nicolas Malebranche: Freedom in an Occasionalist World: 36 (Continuum Studies in Philosophy)

Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) was one of the most notorious and pious of Rene Descartes philosophical followers. A member of The Oratory, a Roman Catholic order founded in 1611 to increase devotion to the Church and St. Augustine, Malebranche brought together his Cartesianism and his Augustinianism in a rigorous theological-philosophical system. Malebranche's occasionalist metaphysics asserts that God alone possesses true causal power. He asserts that human understanding is totally passive and relies on God for both sensory and intellectual perceptions. Critics have wondered what exactly his system leaves for humans to. Yet leaving a space for true human intellectual and moral freedom is something Malebranche clearly intended. This book offers a detailed evaluation of Malebranche's efforts to provide a plausible account of human intellectual and moral agency in the context of his commitment to an infinitely perfect being possessing all causal power. Peppers-Bates suggests that Malebranche might offer a model of agent-willing useful for contemporary theorists. Review "Peppers-Bates investigates how French philosopher Malebranche (1638-1715) was able to reconcile human free will with the assertion that God directly moves not only physical matter but also thoughts and senses. Her account draws on two of his ideas that she says are neglected by scholarship. One is that the human soul, or mind, is made in the image and for the image of God. The other is that God can act only for Himself, can create minds only to know and love Him, and can endow them with no knowledge or love that is not for Him or that does not tend toward Him. Her chapters cover Malebranche's metaphysics and the problems of human freedom; God, order, and general volitions; Arnauld and Malebranche on the power of the human intellect; the union of the divine and the human minds; and attending to his agent causation." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc. About the Author Susan Peppers-Bates is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Stetson University, USA.