Subscribe to get Parts 2 and 3 of this episode. You can hear previews of parts two and three. Hear this part ad-free. On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogues 5-7, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Continuing from ep. 285, we've gathered more of the pieces of Malebranche's picture of epistemology, metaphysics, and science to explain his most famous Continue Reading …
Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part Three for Supporters)
We're concluding our treatment of Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), focusing on dialogue 6 where M. says why a proof of the existence of the external world isn't possible, yet we should believe it anyway on the basis of "revelation," which means both Biblical (the Bible talks about things created) but also the "natural revelation" that sensation itself Continue Reading …
Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogue 7 where he gets into his occasionalist theory of causality. We talk about how this theory relates to mind-body interaction and the student character Aristes argues that there's nothing more intimate than the relation of mind to body and how the teacher character Theodore smacks that claim Continue Reading …
Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part One for Supporters)
On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogues 5-7, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Continuing from ep. 285, we've gathered more of the pieces of Malebranche's picture of epistemology, metaphysics, and science to explain his most famous view: Occasionalism, which is a theory of causality that says that God jumps in at every moment of causality. Is this view Continue Reading …
Ep. 285: Nicolas Malebranche on Knowledge (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogues 1-4, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Malebranche presents a rationalist epistemology that is more like an early modern version of Plato than anyone else we've read. He comes chronologically between Descartes and Leibniz, and provided some Continue Reading …
Ep. 285: Nicolas Malebranche on Knowledge (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), ch. 1-4. We talk about the character of the intelligible world: It resists certain thoughts, like you can't make 2+2=5. It has the intelligible idea of extension in it, which is what substance in the physical world is modeled after. This is an idea that is given to us as infinite: Space is infinitely Continue Reading …
Ep. 285: Nicolas Malebranche on Knowledge (Part One for Supporters)
On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogues 1-4, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Malebranche presents a rationalist epistemology that is more like an early modern version of Plato than anyone else we've read. He comes chronologically between Descartes and Leibniz, and provided some foundational insights for Hume's take on causality, Berkeley's idealism, and Continue Reading …