Nature and Law in the Philosophy of Nicolas Malebranche

The 17th-century French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche was one of the leading proponents of occasionalism, the view that God is directly responsible for all change in the created world. For Malebranche, occasionalism is an appropriately Christian philosophy---that is, it takes seriously the Christian belief that we ought to worship God alone. But occasionalism is intimately tied to Malebranche's more general theory of nature. Unlike his Aristotelian and scholastic predecessors, he attacks the conception of an active and powerful nature, arguing that nature is nothing other than God's general volitions. This dissertation considers the connections between Malebranche's occasionalism and his philosophy of nature and argues that the latter is an important step in the development of the mechanical philosophy.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Pace, Bradley W.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Maher, Patrick

• Philosophy

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3242955

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/87597