On the Intersection of Augustine and Descartes in the Work of Nicolas Malebranche
Faculty Mentor
Kevin Decker
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
10-5-2023 11:10 AM
End Date
10-5-2023 11:30 AM
Location
PUB 323
Department
Philosophy
Abstract
With the Cogito as our basis, how can we perceive bodies? And what is it that brings these bodies into being and causes them to interact with one another? Nicholas Malebranche’s philosophy answers these two questions in a very interesting way that synthesized two intellectual giants, one medieval and the other modern. The pursuit of this work is to examine the way in which Malebranche brilliantly synthesized his two intellectual heroes: St. Augustine and Descartes. Both influenced him greatly and in his work again and again we will see this. Sometimes he synthesizes as in the case of his occasionalism and sometimes he draws particularly from each of his heroes throughout his corpus as is especially seen in his moral philosophy. Both approaches will be considered. This is of particular note to the study of modern philosophy as it allows us to examine a modern philosopher with pronounced influences, that will, in addition, demonstrate a philosopher in the modern period with strong contiguity with the medieval and ancient periods. This is seen as he draws from Neoplatonism, Augustine, and Descartes which is of interest as the modern period is not necessarily known for this.
Recommended Citation
Hokanson, Noah, "On the Intersection of Augustine and Descartes in the Work of Nicolas Malebranche" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 5.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/os4_2023/5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
On the Intersection of Augustine and Descartes in the Work of Nicolas Malebranche
PUB 323
With the Cogito as our basis, how can we perceive bodies? And what is it that brings these bodies into being and causes them to interact with one another? Nicholas Malebranche’s philosophy answers these two questions in a very interesting way that synthesized two intellectual giants, one medieval and the other modern. The pursuit of this work is to examine the way in which Malebranche brilliantly synthesized his two intellectual heroes: St. Augustine and Descartes. Both influenced him greatly and in his work again and again we will see this. Sometimes he synthesizes as in the case of his occasionalism and sometimes he draws particularly from each of his heroes throughout his corpus as is especially seen in his moral philosophy. Both approaches will be considered. This is of particular note to the study of modern philosophy as it allows us to examine a modern philosopher with pronounced influences, that will, in addition, demonstrate a philosopher in the modern period with strong contiguity with the medieval and ancient periods. This is seen as he draws from Neoplatonism, Augustine, and Descartes which is of interest as the modern period is not necessarily known for this.
