Mallebranche Reading -- key passages Flashcards
“properties of extension can consist only in relations of distance” “It is impossible for bodies to act on minds” “what would the power be [for bodies to act on bodies or minds to act on bodies]?”
Theodore questioning Aristes on his view of mind-body unity
“creation [is] simply a continuous creation, a single volition subsisting and operating continuously” God cannot will something to exist without putting it somewhere so “it is a contradiction, therefore, for one body to be able to move another”
Mallebranche uses divine concurrence, a view that Descartes subscribes to, to make a much stronger claim that everything is caused by God (Occasionalism). Because God is constantly willing everything to be where it is, he must be moving things himself.
ball on a plane example
although “nothing is more mobile than a ball on a plane”, it is an example of occasionalism