Malebranche and "cartesianized augustinianism"

Patrick Riley

pp. 463-490

in: Enrico Pattaro, Damiano Canale, Hasso Hofmann, Patrick Riley (eds), A treatise of legal philosophy and general jurisprudence 9-10, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715)¹ is, by general agreement, the greatest French philosopher between Descartes and Rousseau. And Malebranche's central argument is that God (the only "necessary" being) governs the universe through simple constant "general laws' (lois générales) and "general wills' (volontés générales) which are constant, not through arbitrary, ad hoc, miraculous "particular wills." In this sense Malebranche makes the constant rule of "general law" not just a legal-moral principle but a metaphysical-theological one: No-one ever, indeed, gave a more "divine" weight to law than Malebranche.

Cited authors

Descartes René

Rousseau Jean-Jacques

Malebranche Nicolas