Entretiens sur la métaphysique et sur la religion
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Entretiens sur la métaphysique et sur la religion (Dialogues on Metaphysics and on Religion), published in 1688, is considered an excellent introduction to the philosophical system of Nicolas Malebranche. This work is presented as a series of 14 dialogues.1
Malebranche, a French Roman Catholic priest and theologian, was a significant figure in Cartesianism, the school of philosophy founded by René Descartes. His philosophy aimed to integrate Cartesian thought with the ideas of St. Augustine and Neoplatonism.1
A central tenet of Malebranche's metaphysics is the doctrine that "we see all things in God". He proposed Occasionalism, a theory where God is the direct cause of all events. Instead of objects or individuals acting as causes, they merely serve as occasions for God to produce effects. This view addresses the Cartesian dualism between mind and body by asserting that their inability to interact is a specific instance of the general impossibility of interaction between created things.12
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