Overview

Causality and Mind presents seventeen of Nicholas Jolley's essays on early modern philosophy, which focus on two main themes. One theme is the continuing debate over the nature of causality in the period from Descartes to Hume. Jolley shows that, despite his revolutionary stance, Descartes did no serious re-thinking about causality; it was left to his unorthodox disciple Malebranche to argue that there is no place for natural causality in the new mechanistic picture of the physical world. Several essays explore critical reactions to Malebranche's occasionalism in the writings of Leibniz, Berkeley, and Hume, and show how in their different ways Leibniz and Hume respond to Malebranche by re-instating the traditional view that science is the search for causes. A second theme of the volume is the set of issues posed by Descartes' innovations in the philosophy of mind. It is argued that Malebranche is once again a pivotal figure. In opposition to Descartes Malebranche insists that ideas, the objects of thought, are not psychological but abstract entities; he thus opposes Descartes' 'dustbin theory of the mind'. Malebranche also challenges Descartes' assumption that intentionality is a mark of the mental and his commitment to the superiority of self-knowledge over knowledge of body. Other essays discuss the debate over innate ideas, Locke's polemics against Descartes' theory of mind, and the issue of Leibniz's phenomenalism. A major aim of the volume is to show that philosophers in the period are systematic critics of their contemporaries and predecessors.

Full Product Details

Author:   Nicholas Jolley (University of California, Irvine)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.592kg
ISBN:  

9780199669554

ISBN 10:   0199669554
Pages:   290
Publication Date:   28 November 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1: SCIENTIA AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN DESCARTES 2: DESCARTES AND THE ACTION OF BODY ON MIND 3: INTELLECT AND ILLUMINATION IN MALEBRANCHE 4: SENSATION, INTENTIONALITY, AND ANIMAL CONSCIOUSNESS: MALEBRANCHE'S THEORY OF THE MIND 5: MALEBRANCHE ON THE SOUL 6: OCCASIONALISM AND EFFICACIOUS LAWS IN MALEBRANCHE 7: LEIBNIZ AND MALEBRANCHE ON INNATE IDEAS 8: LEIBNIZ AND THE EXCELLENCE OF MINDS 9: LEIBNIZ AND OCCASIONALISM 10: CAUSALITY AND CREATION IN LEIBNIZ 11: LEIBNIZ AND THE CAUSAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF SUBSTANCES 12: LEIBNIZ AND PHENOMENALISM 13: LOCKEAN ABSTRACTIONISM VERSUS CARTESIAN NATIVISM 14: DULL SOULS AND BEASTS: TWO ANTI-CARTESIAN POLEMICS IN LOCKE 15: BEREKELEY, MALEBRANCHE, AND VISION IN GOD 16: BERKELEY AND MALEBRANCHE ON CAUSALITY AND CREATION 17: HUME, MALEBRANCHE, AND THE LAST OCCULT QUALITY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reviews

Nicholas Jolley is an exemplary scholar and a highly engaging writer. Joshua M. Wood, British Journal for the History of Philosophy

Author Information

Nicholas Jolley is Emeritus Professor of the University of California, Irvine. His books include Leibniz and Locke: A Study of the New Essays on Human Understanding (OUP, 1984); The Light of the Soul: Theories of Ideas in Leibniz, Malebranche, and Descartes (OUP, 1990); and Locke: His Philosophical Thought (OUP, 1999).

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions