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252Deduction, Confirmation, and the Laws of Nature in Descartes's Principia philosophiaeJournal of the History of Philosophy 28 (3): 359-383. 1990.
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26The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza’s EthicaJournal of the History of Philosophy 50 (2): 295-296. 2012.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza’s EthicaSteven NadlerLeen Spruit and Pina Totaro. The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza’s Ethica. Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History, 205. Brill’s Texts and Sources in Intellectual History, 11. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2011. Pp. vi + 318. Cloth, $136.00.By any measure, it is a remarkable find. There was a small codex in the Vatican Library, marked Vat. Lat. 12838. It originally belonged to …Read more
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20Malebranche: Philosophical Selections (edited book)Hackett Publishing Company. 1992.These substantial selections from _The Search after Truth_, _Elucidations of the Search after Truth_, _Dialogues on Metaphysics_, and _Treatise on Nature and Grace_, provide the student of modern philosophy with both a broad view of Malebranche's philosophical system and a detailed picture of his most important doctrines. Malebranche's occasionalism, his theory of knowledge and the 'vision in God', and his writings on theodicy and freedom are solidly represented.
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4Descartes: An Intellectual Biography by Stephen Gaukroger (review)Journal of Philosophy 93 (2): 101-104. 1996.
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104Louis de la Forge and the development of occasionalism: Continuous creation and the activity of the soulJournal of the History of Philosophy 36 (2): 215-231. 1998.Louis de La Forge and the Development of Occasionalism: Continuous Creation and the Activity of the Soul STEVEN NADLER THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE CONSERVATION is a dangerous one. It is not theologi- cally dangerous, at least not in itself. From the thirteenth century onwards, and particularly with the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas, the notion of the continuous divine sustenance of the world of created things was, if not univer- sally accepted, a nonetheless common feature of theological orthodoxy, …Read more
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4Geraud de Cordemoy: Six Discourses on the Distinction Between the Body and the SoulOxford University Press UK. 2015.Steven Nadler presents the first English translation of a seminal work in the history of early modern philosophy. Géraud de Cordemoy's Six Discourses on the Distinction Between the Soul and the Body offers an account of the mind and the body in a human being. Cordemoy is an unorthodox Cartesian who opts for an atomist conception of body and matter. In this groundbreaking treatise, he also presents one of the earliest arguments for an occasionalist account of causation, with God serving as the tr…Read more
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19Review of Denis kambouchner, Les Méditations Métaphysiques de Descartes (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2006 (3). 2006.
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9Philosophical Selections: From The Search After Truth, Translated by Thomas M. Lennon and Paul J. Olscamp ; from Elucidations of The Search After Truth, Translated by Thomas M. Lennon ; from Dialogues on Metaphysics, Translated by Willis Doney ; and from Treatise on Nature and Grace, Translated by Thomas Tylor, Revised by Steven Nadler (review)Hackett Publishing Company. 1992.These substantial selections from The Search after Truth, Elucidations of the Search after Truth, Dialogues on Metaphysics, and Treatise on Nature and Grace, provide the student of modern philosophy with both a broad view of Malebranche's philosophical system and a detailed picture of his most important doctrines. Malebranche's occasionalism, his theory of knowledge and the 'vision in God', and his writings on theodicy and freedom are solidly represented.
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21Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy, Vol. 4 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2008.Note from the Editors Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy covers the period that begins, very roughly, ... The core of the subject matter is, of course, philosophy and its history. But the volume's papers reflect the fact that ...
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7Spinoza ou L’« athée vertueux » (review)British Journal for the History of Philosophy 24 (6): 1217-1219. 2016.
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51Descartes on forms and mechanisms (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 48 (3): 399-400. 2010.Recent research by scholars such as Dennis Des Chene and Roger Ariew, among others, has deepened our knowledge of the Scholastic context of Descartes's philosophy, especially his metaphysics and natural philosophy. Helen Hattab's book is a valuable addition to this literature. Her main concern is the development from explanations by Aristotelian substantial forms in late Scholastic thought to the allegedly more perspicuous explanations that characterized the new mechanistic science. More specifi…Read more
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52Descartes's Demon and the Madness of Don QuixoteJournal of the History of Ideas 58 (1): 41-55. 1997.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Descartes’s Demon and the Madness of Don QuixoteSteven NadlerDescartes’s “malicious demon” (genius malignus, le mauvais génie)—the evil deceiver of the Meditations on First Philosophy whose hypothetical existence threatens to undermine radically Descartes’s confidence in his cognitive f aculties—is an artful philosophical and literary device. There is considerable debate over the significance of this powerful and malevolent being wit…Read more
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183Occasionalism and general will in MalebrancheJournal of the History of Philosophy 31 (1): 31-47. 1993.This paper examines a common misreading of the mechanics of Malebranche's doctrine of divine causal agency, occasionalism, and its roots in a related misreading of Malebranche's theories. God, contrary to this misreading, is for Malebranche constantly and actively causally engaged in the world, and does not just establish certain laws of nature. The key is in understanding just what Malebranche means by general volitions'
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44Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 36 (2): 321-322. 1998.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity by Steven B. SmithSteven NadlerSteven B. Smith. Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. Pp. xvii + 270. Cloth, $30.00.Steven B. Smith’s aim in this elegant, well-written book is to restore Spinoza to his important and rightful place in the history of political and religious thought. At the heart of the book i…Read more
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16Descartes and Augustine (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 36 (4): 625-627. 1998.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Descartes and Augustine by Stephen MennSteven NadlerStephen Menn. Descartes and Augustine. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xvi + 415. Cloth, $74.95.As most readers of this journal well know, scholars in the history of philosophy can, however roughly, be divided into two distinct (and sometimes antagonistic) camps: those who think that work on the great philosophers of the past should focus almost exclusive…Read more
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4Whatever is, is God" : substance and things in Spinoza's metaphysicsIn Charles Huenemann (ed.), Interpreting Spinoza: Critical Essays, Cambridge University Press. 2008.
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17Malebranche and the Vision in God: A Note on The Search After Truth, III, 2, iiiJournal of the History of Ideas 52 (2): 309-314. 1991.
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80Scientific Certainty and the Creation of the Eternal Truths: A Problem in DescartesSouthern Journal of Philosophy 25 (2): 175-192. 2010.
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78Cordemoy and occasionalismJournal of the History of Philosophy 43 (1): 37-54. 2005.This is an examination of the nature and extent of Cordemoy's commitment to the doctrine of occasionalism
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1Intentionality in the Arnauld-Malebranche DebateIn Phillip D. Cummins & Guenter Zoeller (eds.), Minds, Ideas, and Objects: Essays in the Theory of Representation in Modern Philosophy, Ridgeview Publishing Company. 1992.
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3Spinoza as a Jewish Philosopher: A test caseStudia Spinozana: An International and Interdisciplinary Series 13 64-80. 1997.
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57Arnauld’s GodJournal of the History of Philosophy 46 (4). 2008.In this paper, I argue that Arnauld’s conception of God is more radical than scholars have been willing to allow. It is not the case that, for Arnauld, God acts for reasons, with His will guided by wisdom (much as the God of Malebranche and Leibniz acts), albeit by a wisdom impenetrable to us. Arnauld’s objections to Malebranche are directed not only at the claim that God’s wisdom is transparent to human reason, but at the whole distinction between will and wisdom in God, even if that wisdom wer…Read more
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The Occasionalism of Louis de la ForgeIn Causation in Early Modern Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 57--73. 1993.
Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |