Epistemology

As a follow-up to our recent seminar, here is an explanation of Malebranche’s doctrine of “occasionalism”:

“Occasionalism is the doctrine that all finite created entities are absolutely devoid of causal efficacy and that God is the only true causal agent. God is directly, immediately and solely responsible for bringing about all phenomena. When a needle pricks the skin, the physical event is merely an occasion for God to cause the appropriate mental state (pain); a volition in the soul to raise an arm or to think of something is only an occasion for God to cause the arm to rise or the idea to be present to the mind; and the impact of one billiard ball upon another is an occasion for God to move the second ball. In all three contexts – mind–body, mind alone and body–body – God’s ubiquitous causal activity proceeds in accordance with certain general laws,…

"I am utterly amazed, utterly enchanted. I have a precursor, and what a precursor! I hardly knew Spinoza: that I should have turned to him just now, was inspired by “instinct.” Not only is his over-all tendency like mine—making knowledge the most powerful affect—but in five main points of his doctrine I recognize myself; this most unusual and loneliest thinker is closest to me precisely in these matters: he denies the freedom of the will, teleology, the moral world order, the unegoistic, and evil. Even though the divergencies are admittedly tremendous, they are due more to the difference in time, culture, and science. In summa: my lonesomeness, which, as on very high mountains, often made it hard for me to breathe and make my blood rush out, is now at least a twosomeness. Strange.” (Postcard to Overbeck, 1881) https://archive.org/details/portablenietzsch0000walt/page/92/mode/2up

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Ultimate_Quotable_Einstein/G_iziBAPXtEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA325&printsec=frontcover

And here is the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Quotable-Einstein-Albert/dp/0691160147/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1G0K7WCT1H0T5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aAP1Lb_CV8oMj0tG9NTOu_m3LTO2n9TRSoChZgPhp6XxspGo_CGvgl9HPCVDGzTqoSYNbrrR5vep17vSLL6XB23HtSixI2dLqGiOcnV_-RYhMm9QwhebMNoI4prxU0u4sG80KB13R9K6Enfy9z9AXA.1NomdiV_sEXB6s10k0pc9bU4uEgccnXnkyKs-JA8ocY&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+ultimate+quotable+einstein&qid=1715287243&sprefix=teh+ultimate+quotable+%2Caps%2C232&sr=8-1

Here's a link where you can find Part I in Latin: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/spinoza.ethica1.html