Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) is one of the most important philosophers of the seventeenth century after Descartes. A pioneer of rationalism, he was one of the first to champion and to further Cartesian ideas.
Andrew Pyle places Malebranche's work in the context of Descartes and other philosophers, and also in its relation to ideas about faith and reason. He examines the entirety of Malebranche's writings, including the famous The Search After Truth, which was admired and criticized by both Leibniz and Locke. Pyle presents an integrated account of Malebranche's central theses, occasionalism and 'vision in God', before exploring and assessing Malebranche's contribution to debates on physics and biology, and his views on the soul, self-knowledge, grace and the freedom of the will.
This penetrating and wide-ranging study will be of interest to not only philosophers, but also to historians of science and philosophy, theologians, and students of the Enlightenment or seventeenth century thought.
Biography
Andrew Pyle is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol. He is the author of Atomism and its Critics and the editor of Key Philosophers in Conversation and the fomer editor of the journal Cogito.
'Among the very best general introductions to Malebranche written in English.' - Mind
'...few can read Malebranche without seeing that he is a genuine philosopher. Andrew Pyle's excellent book...is the culmination of this renewed interest in Malebranche...just the book we have been waiting for.' - Nicholas Jolley, Times Literary Supplement
