Work · Rationalism
The Search after Truth
The sources of error in the mind – we see all things in God.
Introduction
Malebranche’s first and longest work appeared in French in 1674–1675. Its six books examine the sources of human error in turn: the senses, the imagination, the understanding, the natural inclinations and the passions, followed by a book on method. The famous thesis that “we see all things in God” is developed in the third book: ideas are not modifications of our own minds but exist in God, who lets us perceive them. From 1678 the work included a series of “Elucidations”, among them a defence of occasionalism, the view that God is the only true cause. Antoine Arnauld attacked the theory of ideas in 1683, and the debate occupied both for years.
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Connections
Builds on
- Meditations on First Philosophy1641 · René Descartes
Criticized in
- On True and False Ideas1683 · Antoine Arnauld
- A Discourse Concerning the Love of God1696 · Damaris Masham
Sources: Wikidata
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