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Causation in Early Modern Philosophy
Cartesianism, Occasionalism, and Preestablished Harmony
232 pages | 6 x 9 | 1993
Cloth edition is not available
ISBN 978-0-271-02657-2 | paper: $30.95
Three general accounts of causation stand out in early modern philosophy: Cartesian interactionism, occasionalism, and Leibniz's preestablished harmony. The contributors to this volume examine these theories in their philosophical and historical context. They address them both as a means for answering specific questions regarding causal relations and in their relation to one another, in particular, comparing occasionalism and the preestablished harmony as responses to Descartes's metaphysics and physics and the Cartesian account of causation. Philosophers discussed include Descartes, Gassendi, Malebranche, Arnauld, Leibniz, Bayle, La Forge, and other, less well-known figures.
Steven Nadler is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of Malebranche and Ideas (Oxford, 1992), Arnauld and the Cartesian Philosophy of Ideas (Princeton, 1989), and editor of Malebranche: Philosophical Selections (Hackett, 1992).
Contents
Introduction Steven Nadler
Descartes and Occasionalism Daniel Garber
Influxus Physicus Eileen O'Neill
The Occasionalism of Louis de la Forge Steven
Nadler
Malebranche, Models, and Causation Richard A.
Watson
Causation and Preestablished Harmony in the Early
Development of Leibniz's Philosophy Mark A. Kulstad
Compossibility and Law Margaret D. Wilson
Natures, Laws, and Miracles: The Roots of Leibniz's
Critique of Occasionalism Donald P. Rutherford
Constancy, Emergence, and Illusions: Obstacles
to Naturalistic Theories of Vision Catherine Wilson
Mechanism as a Silly Mouse: Bayle's Defense of
Occasionalism Against the Preestablished Harmony Thomas M. Lennon
The Value of Harmony Lois Frankel