Nicolas Malebranche Quotes
A collection of quotes by Nicolas Malebranche.
Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) was a French philosopher and theologian who made significant contributions to the fields of metaphysics and epistemology. Born in Paris, Malebranche entered the Oratory of Jesus, a religious congregation, at a young age and eventually became a priest.
Malebranche's philosophical system, known as occasionalism, proposed that all events in the world are caused directly by God. According to him, humans have no direct influence over their actions or the effects they produce, but rather everything is determined and guided by divine intervention. In his most famous work, "The Search After Truth," Malebranche explored the nature of knowledge and argued that true understanding is only possible through the direct intervention of God.
Malebranche was heavily influenced by the philosophies of René Descartes and Blaise Pascal. He engaged in debates and correspondences with many intellectuals of his time, including Antoine Arnauld and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Malebranche also wrote extensively on ethics and theodicy, attempting to reconcile the existence of evil with the idea of a benevolent God.
Not only a philosopher, Malebranche also contributed to the field of natural science. He conducted experiments on vision and developed a theory of perception that emphasized the role of the mind in shaping our experiences of the world.
Nicolas Malebranche's works significantly impacted 18th-century European philosophy and his ideas continue to be subjects of study and debate in contemporary philosophy.
