Overview

"Occasionalism is the thesis that God alone is the true cause of everything that happens in the world, and created substances are merely ""occasional causes."" This doctrine was originally developed in medieval Islamic theology, and was widely rejected in the works of Christian authors in medieval Europe. Yet despite its heterodoxy, occasionalism was revived in the 1660s by followers of the philosophy of René Descartes, perhaps the most famous among them the French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche, who popularized this doctrine. What led Cartesian thinkers to adopt occasionalism? Since the 1970s has there been a growing body of literature on Malebranche and the movement he engendered. There is also a new and growing body of work on the Cartesian occasionalists before Malebranche--including Arnold Geulincx, Geraud de Cordemoy, and Louis de la Forge. But to date there has not been a systematic, book-length study of the reasoning that led Cartesian thinkers to adopt occasionalism, and the relationship of their arguments to Descartes' own views. This book expands on recent scholarship to provide the first comprehensive account of seventeenth century occasionalism. Part I contrasts occasionalism with a theory of divine providence developed by Thomas Aquinas, in response to medieval occasionalists; it shows that Descartes' philosophy is compatible with Aquinas' theory, on which God ""concurs"" in all the actions of created beings. Part II reconstructs the arguments of Cartesians--such as Cordemoy and La Forge--who used Cartesian physics to argue for occasionalism. Finally, the book shows how Malebranche's case for occasionalism combines philosophical theology with Cartesian metaphysics and mechanistic science."

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9780190941796

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In One True Cause, Andrew Platt offers a textually informed and philosophically sophisticated treatment of the issue of occasionalism in early modern Cartesianism that takes into account the relevant scholastic background. Particularly noteworthy here are the extended arguments against occasionalist readings of Descartes and his follower Clauberg and the consistent emphasis on the differences in both the forms of and theoretical motives for Cartesian occasionalism in the work of Guelincx, La Forge, Cordemoy and Malebranche. * Tad M. Schmaltz, Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy, University of Michigan * This fine book will be the reference point for all future work done on occasionalism and indeed on causation generallyin the early modern period. * Thomas M. Lennon, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Western University, Canada *

This fine book will be the reference point for all future work done on occasionalism and indeed on causation generallyin the early modern period. * Thomas M. Lennon, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Western University, Canada * In One True Cause, Andrew Platt offers a textually informed and philosophically sophisticated treatment of the issue of occasionalism in early modern Cartesianism that takes into account the relevant scholastic background. Particularly noteworthy here are the extended arguments against occasionalist readings of Descartes and his follower Clauberg and the consistent emphasis on the differences in both the forms of and theoretical motives for Cartesian occasionalism in the work of Guelincx, La Forge, Cordemoy and Malebranche. * Tad M. Schmaltz, Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy, University of Michigan *

Author Information

Andrew Platt is currently an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University. He has previously held visiting positions at St. Cloud State University, the University of Delaware, and Central Michigan University.

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