NICOLAS MALEBRANCHE: FROM THE THEORY OF 'GENERAL WILL' TO THE CONCEPT OF 'INCLINATION'
| Autor: | CRISTIAN MOISUC |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | German<br />English<br />Spanish; Castilian<br />French<br />Italian |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Agathos: An International Review of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol V, Iss 2, Pp 31-39 (2014) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 2069-1025 2248-3446 |
| Popis: | The period between 1670 and 1740 is considered a time of “crisis of Christian rationalism” (A. McKenna) or a time of “skepticism” (V.Cousin), since the Christian apologetics, trapped between Protestantism and the Rationalism, are gradually reduced to a row of inefficient and traditional “proofs” for the existence and kindness of God. In 1680, Nicolas Malebranche publishes the Treatise on Nature and Grace, following to explain the way in which God granted His grace to all mankind. In order to fight the skeptical thesis according to which God takes not directly part in this world, Malebranche refers the action of God to the concept of “general/divine will”. If such a theory is useful at a certain metaphysical level in explaining the presence of the evil in the world (God does not create but allows the evil), it raises some anthropological issues, especially concerning the nature of the human free will. If anything in the world emerges as a direct consequence of God’s “general will”, how can be conceived a real free human will? The theory of God’s general will generates an unexpected anthropological consequence (the dissolution of the human free will) that Malebranche tries to hide it by inventing the concept of “inclination of the will”: God does not interfere (by causation) with the human will, but He influences it (by inclination). Is it philosophically defensible? The aim of the article is to analyze some philosophical and methodological difficulties related to the new Malebranchist concept of “inclination of human will” in order to prove that the passage from the occasionalist theory of general will to an inquiry about the human will is quite problematic. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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