Malebranche's Theory of the Soul

Malebranche's Theory of the Soul PDF Author: Tad Schmaltz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198026366
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book offers a provocative interpretation of the theory of the soul in the writings of the French Cartesian, Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715). Though recent work on Malebranche's philosophy of mind has tended to emphasize his account of ideas, Schmaltz focuses rather on his rejection of Descartes' doctrine that the mind is better known than the body. In particular, he considers and defends Malebranche's argument that this rejection has a Cartesian basis. Schmaltz reveals that this argument not only provides a fresh perspective on Cartesianism but also is relevant to current debates in the philosophy of mind.

Malebranche's Theory of the Soul

Malebranche's Theory of the Soul PDF Author: Tad Schmaltz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198026366
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book offers a provocative interpretation of the theory of the soul in the writings of the French Cartesian, Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715). Though recent work on Malebranche's philosophy of mind has tended to emphasize his account of ideas, Schmaltz focuses rather on his rejection of Descartes' doctrine that the mind is better known than the body. In particular, he considers and defends Malebranche's argument that this rejection has a Cartesian basis. Schmaltz reveals that this argument not only provides a fresh perspective on Cartesianism but also is relevant to current debates in the philosophy of mind.

The Light of the Soul

The Light of the Soul PDF Author: Nicholas Jolley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198238195
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
The concept of an idea plays a central role in seventeenth-century theories of mind and knowledge. However, philosophers of the period were seriously divided over the nature of ideas. The Light of the Soul examines the important but neglected debate on this issue between Leibniz, Malebranche,and Descartes. In reaction to Descartes, Malebranche argues that ideas are not mental but abstract, logical entities. Leibniz in turn replies to Malebranche by reclaiming ideas for psychology. Nicholas Jolley explores the theological dimension of the debate by showing how the three philosophersmake use of biblical and patristic teaching. The debate has important implications for such major issues in early modern philosophy as innate ideas, self-knowledge, scepticism, the mind-body problem, and the creation of the eternal truths. Jolley goes on to consider the relevance of theseventeenth-century controversy to modern discussions of the relation between logic and psychology.'This is an excellent book about a variety of themes in seventeenth-century philosophy . . . an engaging and stimulating tour of a series of fascinating philosophical debates which constitute central dimensions of the seventeenth-century philosophical tradition. . . . Jolley has a finephilosophical sense, an excellent knowledge of the texts, and a rich appreciation of the secondary literature.' Michael L. Morgan, Review of Metaphysics'Jolley has written a rich and useful book.Its concerns are important and he presents them in a remarkably accessible fashion. . . . Very seldom does a book like this appear that will be of serious interest both to the most advanced, sophisticated researchers in the field and to those with onlypassing knowledge of the basic texts ... It is an engaging book, in both senses of the term. Its style and method of argument are not only prepossessing, but they also draw one into the dialectic, and in a philosophically productive way.' Thomas M. Lennon, Canadian Philosophical Reviews'careful and perceptive . . . lucid and wide-ranging' John Cottingham, Times Literary Supplement'A significant study of a central topic in modern philosophy . . . Without losing sight of his central theme, Jolley manages to illuminate a host of related topics in epistemology and the philosophy of mind, and succeeds quite admirably in offering a philosophically stimulating, historically richdiscussion of the nature of ideas. Consequently, this book should be purchased by every academic library supporting undergraduate degree programs in philosophy.' C. J. Shields, Choice

Descartes, Malebranche, and the Crisis of Perception

Descartes, Malebranche, and the Crisis of Perception PDF Author: Walter Ott
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192509454
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
The seventeenth century witnesses the demise of two core doctrines in the theory of perception: naïve realism about color, sound, and other sensible qualities and the empirical theory, drawn from Alhacen and Roger Bacon, which underwrote it. This created a problem for seventeenth century philosophers: how is that we use qualities such as color, feel, and sound to locate objects in the world, even though these qualities are not real? Ejecting such sensible qualities from the mind-independent world at once makes for a cleaner ontology, since bodies can now be understood in purely geometrical terms, and spawns a variety of fascinating complications for the philosophy of perception. If sensible qualities are not part of the mind-independent world, just what are they, and what role, if any, do they play in our cognitive economy? We seemingly have to use color to visually experience objects. Do we do so by inferring size, shape, and motion from color? Or is it a purely automatic operation, accomplished by divine decree? This volume traces the debate over perceptual experience in early modern France, covering such figures as Antoine Arnauld, Robert Desgabets, and Pierre-Sylvain Régis alongside their better-known countrymen René Descartes and Nicolas Malebranche.

The Cambridge Companion to Malebranche

The Cambridge Companion to Malebranche PDF Author: Steven Nadler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521627290
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
This Companion contains specially commissioned essays addressing Malebranche's thought comprehensively and systematically.

A Brief History of the Soul

A Brief History of the Soul PDF Author: Stewart Goetz
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444395920
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 195

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is a clear and concise history of the soul in western philosophy, from Plato to cutting-edge contemporary work in philosophy of mind. Packed with arguments for and against a range of different, historically significant philosophies of the soul Addresses the essential issues, including mind-body interaction, the causal closure of the physical world, and the philosophical implications of the brain sciences for the soul's existence Includes coverage of theories from key figures, such as Plato, Aquinas, Locke, Hume, and Descartes Unique in combining the history of ideas and the development of a powerful case for a non-reductionist, non-materialist account of the soul

Malebranche's Theory of the Soul

Malebranche's Theory of the Soul PDF Author: Tad M. Schmaltz
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195103440
Category : Philosophy of mind
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book considers in the broader context of early modern Cartesianism Malebranche's claim that consciousness of the soul yields knowledge of a nature that is radically inferior in kind to the knowledge that Cartesians have of the nature of the body.

The Philosophy of John Norris

The Philosophy of John Norris PDF Author: W. J. Mander
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199230307
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
W.J. Mander presents this study of the English philosopher/theologian John Norris (1657-1711). Best known as a critic of John Locke, Norris incorporated ideas of Augustine, Malebranche, Plato, the Cambridge Platonists, and the scholastics into an original synthesis, highly influential in his day.

The Divine Order, the Human Order, and the Order of Nature

The Divine Order, the Human Order, and the Order of Nature PDF Author: Eric Watkins
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199934401
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume contains ten new essays focused on the exploration and articulation of a narrative that considers the notion of order within medieval and modern philosophy—its various kinds (natural, moral, divine, and human), the different ways in which each is conceived, and the diverse dependency relations that are thought to obtain among them. Descartes, with the help of others, brought about an important shift in what was understood by the order of nature by placing laws of nature at the foundation of his natural philosophy. Vigorous debate then ensued about the proper formulation of the laws of nature and the moral law, about whether such laws can be justified, and if so, how-through some aspect of the divine order or through human beings-and about what consequences these laws have for human beings and the moral and divine orders. That is, philosophers of the period were thinking through what the order of nature consists in and how to understand its relations to the divine, human, and moral orders. No two major philosophers in the modern period took exactly the same stance on these issues, but these issues are clearly central to their thought. The Divine Order, the Human Order, and the Order of Nature is devoted to investigating their positions from a vantage point that has the potential to combine metaphysical, epistemological, scientific, and moral considerations into a single narrative.

Passions of the Soul

Passions of the Soul PDF Author: René Descartes
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 162466198X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Get Book Here

Book Description
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Translator's Introduction Introduction by Genevieve Rodis-Lewis The Passions of the Soul: Preface PART I: About the Passions in General, and Incidentally about the Entire Nature of Man PART II: About the Number and Order of the Passions, and the Explanation of the Six Primitives PART III: About the Particular Passions Lexicon: Index to Lexicon Bibliography Index Index Locorum

Causality and Mind

Causality and Mind PDF Author: Nicholas Jolley
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199669554
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book Here

Book Description
This text presents 17 of Nicholas Jolley's essays on early modern philosophy. They focus on two main themes: the debate over the nature of causality; and the issues posed by Descartes' innovations in the philosophy of mind. Together, they show that philosophers in the period are systematic critics of their contemporaries and predecessors.